


Line Hopper

by secooper87



Series: The Child of Balime [45]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2106084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secooper87/pseuds/secooper87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the final days of planet Earth, everyone has bad dreams.  The End of Time is coming… and it all begins when Buffy Summers disappears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_"It is said that, in the final days of planet Earth… everyone had bad dreams…"_

* * *

"Buffy," Dawn said, catching her sister, before she could fall. "Buffy. What are we doing here?"

Buffy gritted her teeth. "I need to come back," she said. She could feel her head pounding, to the beat of the rain thudding against the ground around them. "I need to become me again. Or she'll take me."

There was a house beside the crater that had once been Sunnydale.

The house that Buffy had bought and furnished.

Seo unlocked the door.

* * *

_"Dreams of fire and war and insanity. Dreams of the terrible things that are to come._

_We know what is to come. Just as we know what's already happened._

_The Slayer returns to her home — a noble warrior, making her final journey…"_

* * *

They helped Buffy get inside.

But she fell unconscious before she made it half way across the living room.

"She's worse here than she was in Cleveland," said Dawn.

Seo helped support her mother's limp body. "She told me… this was where she went on her quest," she explained. "The place she sees in her dreams. She thought… if she came back…"

They looked at one another.

Too afraid to say what they really thought.

"Did she tell you what was attacking her, this time?" Dawn said, as they both hauled Buffy into a spare bed. Tucked her up with pillows and blankets. "She told me… the headaches, now — they're different from the last ones."

Seo hesitated.

"What are…?" Seo began.

Dawn looked up at her. Across the sleeping form of Buffy. "This time… they're drumbeats."

* * *

_"The madman laughs._

_A prison is destroyed, the madman returns, and the healer arrives too late to prevent the resurrection of his enemy. Four knocks will bring his death._

_Half a world away, death has already arrived._

_The events are already being set into motion. Alongside the healer, the prison, the madman… a second story is told. One that begins with the rain over Sunnydale. One that begins with the Slayer._

_We see the end of days. We see it coming._

_We see — she is returning…"_

* * *

Dawn started, abruptly, out of the uneasy sleep she'd fallen into, sitting on the armchair, watching over Buffy. Dawn was still shaking from the nightmare. Remembered… a madman laughing. A prison in ruins. The fire and the death. The end of the world, and the end of everything, and… and…

Buffy was screaming.

Dawn forgot her dream. Rushed forwards, to help Seo, who was already trying to treat Buffy.

But neither knew what to do.

"It's a bad dream," Seo tried to say. "Mom. Wake up. It's not real!"

Buffy thrashed. Not aware of what she was saying or doing. "In my head," she muttered. "Pounding in my head. Over and over again!" She lashed out, throwing Seo off of her, with a force that slammed Seo against the floor. "Leave me alone!"

"Elizabeth's a universe away," Dawn assured Buffy. "She can't just… _take_ you! We've got weapons to keep her out!"

Seo got to her feet, with a groan. Went back to Buffy.

"She won't get you," Dawn said. "She can't, Buffy. We won't let her."

* * *

But one timeline away, Elizabeth knew they were wrong.

Would always be wrong.

She was smarter than them. Smarter than everyone.

"Just wait for it," Elizabeth said. Her eyes glowing, as she watched for the moment the Time Lady slipped out of this reality and appeared in the other one.

To some useless idiot named Wilfred Mott.

But it was all Elizabeth needed to give her the advantage she needed. Make her move.

She saw the spike in energy that signaled another transfer for the Time Lady. And yanked down a lever.

"Time to meet, other-me," said Elizabeth. "Time to _die_."

* * *

Neither Seo nor Dawn saw the moment it happened.

Just the moment before.

And the moment after.

The moment before — when Buffy cried out, her eyes opening in sudden terror, as if she could see the gates of hell in front of her…

And the moment after — when Buffy was gone.

"What the…?!" Dawn looked around. "Where'd she go?"

Seo's face was grave. She touched the empty bed — still warm. "We both know where," she said, in a soft voice. "Elizabeth got her. Somehow… she beat us."

Dawn didn't accept it.

Couldn't.

"I'm not giving up on Buffy," Dawn said. Gritted her teeth. "I know my sister. She's probably beating the living crap out of Elizabeth, right now."

"In a locked away timeline," Seo replied, "that no one can get into. Or out of."

Dawn felt an emptiness rise up inside her.

An emptiness that echoed through the hollow sound of the rain hitting the rooftop.

"Elizabeth only came out, last time, because of Rose and the dimension canon," Seo reminded Dawn. "There's no dimension canon, this time. Whatever Elizabeth did to get Mom to that timeline…"

"No!" Dawn interrupted. Shoved her finger in Seo's face. "Don't say there's no way back. I _know_ there is! There _has_ to be!"

Seo's shoulders drooped.

As she looked away.

"The Doctor!" Dawn said. "He can help us! He got Elizabeth back to that timeline, before, right? I bet he knows how to get Buffy out! I bet—"

"We don't even have to look that far," Seo muttered.

Dawn stopped.

Frowned.

Seo's face was cast in shadow. Her hair still dripping with the last of the raindrops, like tears, upon the bed that had once held her mom.

"Mom worked it out," Seo said. "She knew she'd be taken. That's why she brought us here. Now. Why she came back to Sunnydale."

"I don't get it," said Dawn.

Seo looked up at Dawn. "I can reach out with my senses," she said. "I can detect — there's a weak point in time coming. And we both know at what point, in space, that weak-point will occur."

Dawn shook her head, still didn't…

Then she stopped.

Froze.

As she realized… she knew exactly what Seo was talking about.

* * *

_"We have all seen, in our dreams, what will bring the end of days._

_The Sunnydale crater._

_The falling rain._

_The tower rebuilt, just as it was before._

_We always knew the end would come when she returned, and opened the portal._

_What we never suspected… until we knew it, could see it in our dreams and feel it in our nightmares… is that those we thought were innocent have turned on us. Turned on the universe._

_The Key will create the portal._

_But this time… it will_ want _to."_


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure this is the right spot?" Seo called up, from her spot on the scaffolding they'd just erected. She glanced at the desolate crater, around her. Trying to see through the drench of the rain. "There are no landmarks, anymore."

"It is," Dawn said, at the top. Nailing the last board into place — a long, sturdy plank, to take them out far enough that they could stand directly over it, when it opened. "I know it is. I… just feel it."

She remembered being here before.

At 14. Terrified. Bound and bleeding, facing down a demon with a lizard-tongue, who wanted to slice her open and end the multiverse.

She remembered standing in the Doctor's TARDIS, as it drifted above this place, trying to convince Seo not to throw herself over the edge.

Dawn closed her eyes.

She remembered… Buffy dying here.

But Buffy _wouldn't_ die again.

"You can control it, right?" Dawn called back. Looking down at Seo, still climbing up the rickety scaffolding. "I mean, I don't want to end the multiverse or anything."

She leaned down, gave Seo a hand.

Helped Seo up to the top.

"Um… yes?" Seo tried.

She didn't sound as sure as Dawn wished.

"It's a lot of power," Seo explained, with a grimace. She looked over at the spot where the portal had opened, back when she'd been a baby. "And it's a locked timeline. If we're going to do this… and succeed…" She swallowed, hard. Then looked back at Dawn. "We're going to have to crack it open. And then keep it open. Until I can get Mom out."

"Will that be dangerous?" said Dawn.

"There's a war going on in there," Seo reminded her. "A war so horrible, my father mega-locked it out of the universe! A war that nearly shattered apart time and space."

Dawn nodded. "So… kind of dangerous."

Seo didn't answer.

"Look, am I gonna be expecting massive Dalek armies, here, or what?" Dawn asked. Put her hands on her hips. "Because I left all our weapons back at the house."

"I'm going to try to mostly close the breach, behind me," Seo replied. She seemed hesitant. "We… we can't let anything that belongs there get out. The Daleks are clever. If they figure out what we're doing… use that to their advantage…"

"…we could get the Daleks currently around, in this timeline, finding a way to open the breach on this side," Dawn realized, "while the Time-War-Daleks open the breach on _their_ side." She grimaced. "Okay. Yeah. Dangerous."

"So I hide the breach," said Seo. "Leave it as the smallest, littlest tear there is in the fabric of space and time. Unless the Daleks are the size of… I dunno. A small pea, or a pebble, or a rock or something… they won't get through."

Dawn raised her eyebrows. "You can do that?"

Seo grimaced. "I... think? I mean, even if… although maybe…" She stopped. Shook her head. "It's for Mom. I have to."

Dawn met her eyes.

Understood.

"Yeah," she said. Taking Seo's hands in hers. "Whatever the risks… we take 'em. Together."

"It was a nice universe while it lasted?" Seo offered.

"Here's to starting an apocalypse," Dawn agreed.

They smiled at one another. Shakily.

Then turned. And walked out onto the plank, together.

Seo could feel the moment coming. That weak spot in time. It approached.

"We've got maybe a minute before it comes," said Seo. "Better get ready." She took out a small thumbtack. Pricked her finger, then hissed, shaking it out.

"Do me, too," said Dawn, taking the thumbtack from Seo.

She stabbed herself.

Across the dark horizon, covered by rain and darkness, lightning flashed.

Illuminating the two in a stark silhouette.

"You do know… only one of us can go through," Seo said. "The other has to stay here. To hold open the link."

Dawn felt a shudder run through her. Then pushed it aside. "I'll go—"

"The controlling energy element has to be the one to go through," Seo countered. "Otherwise… the universe will collapse."

"You're making that up," Dawn accused.

Seo looked away. "I might not be."

"But you _are_ ," Dawn said.

Seo didn't answer.

"I've seen you do this kind of thing, before," Dawn argued. "Making this portal stable is gonna drain the hell out of your energy. And you're expecting, on top of all that, to defeat Elizabeth single handedly?!"

"Elizabeth knows you," Seo snapped, turning back to face Dawn. "She's expecting _you_ to come through. She won't be expecting me." She paused. Then muttered, "And because of that… I'm going to have to rely on you to do some of my work."

Dawn shook her head. "I can't. You know I can't! My brain doesn't work that way."

"It does a bit," said Seo. "That's all I need." She looked deep into Dawn's eyes. "I need you to _be_ the Key. And only the Key. Not a person. The Key."

Dawn shuddered.

As lightning struck, again, some ways away.

* * *

_"Christmas, a holiday of hope and joy, will turn to doom._

_As the Key submits to her destiny._

_And the Goddess takes control…"_

* * *

"Am… I going to die?" Dawn whispered.

Seo quirked an eyebrow at her. "What do you think I am? A maniac?"

Oh.

Okay.

"So… if you make me the Key, and only the Key, I'm not going to go poof and vanish into thin air," Dawn confirmed. "Right?"

Seo hesitated. "Well… it's technically more a 'flumf' sound than a 'poof' sound…"

Dawn shivered in the rain.

"You'll still be corporeal," Seo assured her. "And you'll wear an illusory physical form. Probably the same one you have now — it's been embedded partially into the energy, and I think that'll hold. But you won't… exactly… be human."

Dawn felt a sudden terror grip her.

"I mean, you are but… oh, it's complicated," Seo said. "And I don't have time to explain. Just take my word on it. I'll activate you. You'll sort of… well… change. But long as you remember — you're Dawn Summers, and you're the Key — long as you focus on that… it'll be all right."

"Um…"

"And if you don't," Seo continued, "you'll become human, the energy will overwhelm you. You'll die. And I'll be stuck. Got it?"

This was sounding like a worse and worse idea by the second.

"Oh, I'm not doing this right!" Seo reprimanded herself. "Okay. Here's the thing." She turned on Dawn. "Everything you've known about yourself is a lie. You've never been a person. You're a fake. A phony. A cheap imitation." She grabbed Dawn by the wrist. Waved it around. "This human body. It isn't even a real body. It's some skin you wear around — a costume at a costume party. Inside, you're a Key. Only a Key. You're the thing that fits a lock, and keeps the link open — and _that's it_."

"I… uh…"

Dawn could feel herself hyperventilating a little. Because she remembered… someone else saying this to her.

Glory.

And Seo might not know — not until her Tenth incarnation — but Dawn did. Seo was the _real_ Glory. All the craziness Dawn had faced when she was 14, concentrated together and shoved into Seo's baby-brain, to grow and gather strength.

What if Seo changed, the moment she entered the portal, and became Crazy-Glory again?

What if Seo had _already_ changed?

Screw spiders, parlors, and flies. This was more like — will you walk into my portal, said Glory to her Key…

"It's time, now," said Seo. "I can feel it. That weak point, when we can… open the portal." She raised out her hand over the edge, blood pooling on her fingertip. Then hesitated. Analyzing Dawn, carefully. "Are you all right?"

"I… I don't…" Dawn took her hands away from Seo's. Huddled into herself. "I can't."

Seo stared. Her voice low, biting, as she said, "What?!"

Dawn could see a tempest storming in her eyes. A hurricane of pain and grief and loss, of a child who'd lost her mommy and would hurtle anything at the barrier separating them, to retrieve her.

"You're going to back out?!" Seo shouted. "After we built this whole tower?! After we went through all this…?!"

Dawn waited for her to lose her temper and do something drastic.

But Seo just hung her head.

And pulled back her hand.

"Then… that's it," Seo admitted. Her head bent, as she turned away. "Mom's… just… I don't know what else to do."

There it was.

The difference between Seo and Glory. Both would fight tooth and nail to get somewhere, risk bringing down universes and multiverses to achieve their goals, risk sacrificing a life…

But Seo wouldn't do it, if Dawn didn't agree.

Somehow, that made all the difference.

"No, I mean… I'll do it," Dawn said, reaching out and turning Seo back around. "We're in this together, remember? I take a risk for you. You take a risk for me."

Seo smiled.

"Just… please don't think of me like what you said," Dawn told her. "As a Key and not a person. It's… really disturbing."

Seo gave an exasperated sigh. "It's a mental image, Aunt Dawn! I was trying to help you get into the right mindset!"

"You were…?"

"What I said to you," Seo explained, "is what I tell _myself_ , when I do what you're about to do. To make sure I don't lose my concentration half-way through, and accidentally kill myself. Or the rest of the universe."

Oh.

Uh…

"Sorry," said Dawn. "Bit of a freak-out session. But… I'm good, now!"

They held their hands out, together. Letting their blood drop down towards the correct point.

"You can't ever think of yourself as human, while doing this," Seo reminded Dawn. "You've never been human. Do you understand?"

"I… yeah?" Dawn tried.

As the blood splashed down and hit the portal. First Seo's. Then Dawn's.

And it opened, gaping and swirling with light, before them.

For a moment, Dawn was… not even there. Like she didn't exist. Except… no. Focus! Of course she existed.

She was Dawn Summers. She was the Key.

And Dawn was herself, again. Two arms, two legs. Her face, her eyes, her hair.

Along with that thought, always in the back of her head.

_I am Dawn Summers. I am the Key…_

"This is it," said Seo. She turned to the portal. "Wish me luck."

Then she jumped.

And was swallowed up, the energy vanishing behind her.

* * *

_"They say that, in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams," the man continued to tell the others. "And it is said… that everyone forgot the moment they awoke…"_

_He stepped forwards, raising his sword above his head._

_"Except for us!" he shouted. "The Knights of Byzantium!"_

_His brothers cheered, around him. Raising their swords in kind. Rain dripping off their armor._

_"The Beast destroyed our General Gregor!" General Darren of the Knights of Byzantium shouted. "She thought she'd won. But we foresaw the end. We gathered, we unified, we strengthened our resolve!"_

_"We remember the dreams!" shouted the crowd._

_"And so we know what's about to happen," General Darren said. "And how to stop it!" Mounting his horse, as the portal cracked open in the distance. He pointed to it with his sword. "Look forth! The Beast is gone. The Key has turned within its lock! The gateway is open, and it heralds the end of time!"_

_He kicked his horse, who whinnied into life._

_"The link must be severed!" General Darren cried. "The madman stopped! The four knocks never sounded!"_

_"Destroy the link!" the others chorused, with him. "Close the gateway!"_

_"Such is the will of God!" General Darren shouted._

_"Such is the will of God!" the others cheered._

_As the thunder of horses' hooves roared through the rain of the storm, and the Knights of Byzantium approached their finest battle, in the crater that had once been Sunnydale…_


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy woke up.

Sprung to her feet, taking in her surroundings. Three white walls, a white floor and white tiled ceiling with fluorescent lights, and the last wall… was composed of metal vertical bars. A cell, like the one beside it, and the one beside that.

One woman stood beyond the bars, facing away from Buffy, blond hair and a white lab coat. Leaning over a table, bent in concentration.

And Buffy knew who.

"Don't tell me that's what the back of my own head looks like," said Buffy. "Because, seriously? I think the Buffy-bot got it better than you."

The woman swung around.

And Buffy felt the breath knocked out of her.

As she saw… her own face, staring back.

It wasn't like looking at Seo, or looking at that Buffy-bot, or anything. This… was her. Her face. Her body. Herself. Every feature perfectly identical. Every crease in her face, every micro-expression, even the way she stood or walked forwards or whatever…

Completely identical.

"Yeah, it's all with the weird, huh?" said Elizabeth, a small smile touching her lips. "I mean, I was expecting _something_ different. Like with twins. But… we're not twins. We're the same." She gestured in between the two of them. "Same person. Same Line Hopper."

"A Line Hopper," Buffy said, dully, "who's Line-Hopped."

Then doubled over, in sudden pain, at the thumping in her head. They were loud, now. Even louder than before. A thumping that seared past her brain and into her soul.

"You'll get used to that," Elizabeth told her. Shrugged. "I know I have."

Buffy glanced up at Elizabeth, through the pain. Forced herself to look normal, planted a smile onto her face. "So… what? You brought me here to kill me? Because, no offense, but… yawn." She pretended to yawn, exaggeratedly. "Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "You sound pretty sure of yourself."

Buffy crossed her arms, too. A mirror image of her counterpart. "Me, Slayer," she said. "You, normal human. See how this is gonna work out?"

Elizabeth didn't answer.

An enigmatic smile dancing across her face.

"I mean, take these bars, for example," said Buffy, grabbing them up. "With Slayer strength, I can just…"

She yanked as hard as she could.

The bars didn't move.

Elizabeth brushed some hair back behind her shoulders. "Finished gloating, yet?"

Buffy gritted her teeth, and tried again. Struggled to yank open the iron bars that… weren't even secured that well! This should have been easy! No sweat!

Except the bars didn't give.

"What… what is…?" said Buffy, looking down at her hands.

Elizabeth tsked, shaking her head. "Poor, poor other-me," she said. "Hasn't anyone ever told you?" She stepped forwards, tapped her own head. "If you're smart enough, you don't need super strength."

Buffy stared at Elizabeth.

Realizing.

"You took my powers away," Buffy said. Her mind whirling. "I can feel it. Stifled and horrible. Like when I was 18, and—"

"—the Watchers Council tried to pit you against Kralik," Elizabeth continued, easily, "that insane vampire who had a creepy obsession with killing mothers."

Buffy was speechless.

Confused.

Elizabeth just raised up a little vial in front of Buffy. "Cyclobenzaprine, fluticasone propionate, triamcinolone acetonide, and a dash of orphenadrine," she said. "Or, as your memory puts it, 'Cyclone Ben-a-thingy, flute-scone appropriate, tricycle acetone, and orphanage'." She waggled a finger at her. "You really should have paid more attention in Chemistry. Reading your memories, it's like you need an anagram decoder to decipher them!"

"What do you mean, reading my memories?!" Buffy cried. "How did you get your hands on my…?!"

Elizabeth grabbed hold of the bars. Leaned in, close.

"I know your whole life," Elizabeth whispered. Her eyes glowed, with the words. "I saw it, with the Crystallizer and the 456. Every memory. Every hope. Every dream. Every sorrow." Her voice turned icy. Cold. "Even the sickening way you've been deluded about the Doctor."

Buffy shook her head. "And you say _I'm_ stupid," she muttered.

"We're two sides of the same sheet of paper," Elizabeth continued. "Don't you get it?" She peeled away her hands from the bars. "While you were turning into me… I was turning into you."

"Yeah, I figured that one out when you said the paper-thing, thanks," Buffy snapped.

Elizabeth looked at Buffy, pointedly.

As if waiting for her to go on.

Buffy faltered.

For the first time, feeling like… there was something she missed. Something really, really big.

"And…?" said Elizabeth.

"And… nothing," said Buffy. "I don't know!"

"And if that's Time Lord technology," Elizabeth explained, slowly, "then why would it activate on your world, when there aren't any Time Lords around to trigger it? Why — out of all of the possibilities — did you wind up so nearly turning into _me_?" She slouched, her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "I thought about it. Then I figured it out."

And Buffy knew the answer, too.

Like it had just appeared in her head.

"Your world and your whole timeline… it's been getting closer to our reality," said Buffy. "Closer and closer and closer. Until things started… transferring over between the two. Even more so than usual."

"There!" said Elizabeth, smiling. "You're getting the hang of this, now."

"But that should be impossible," Buffy insisted. "This whole place is supposed to be mega time locked. How could…?"

"Because this is the end!" said Elizabeth, throwing up her hands. "Oh, don't look so confused! I was in your timeline. I heard what all your friends said about this place. There's some great big Time Lord war going on, and the Doctor's about to kill everyone. Which means time and the universe are falling apart, and the Time Lords are desperate."

Buffy didn't get it.

Not at all.

"I found a trace," said Elizabeth. "One Time Lady has been disappearing from this reality and reappearing in yours. Punching tiny little holes through, so she can appear to some… worthless old guy named 'Wilfred'." Elizabeth made a face. "Imbecile."

Uh… huh.

The more Elizabeth spoke, the less Buffy-like she seemed.

"That," said Elizabeth, "gave me the opportunity to bring you here." She whirled around, ran back to the lab table. Yanked something off its surface. "And this…" showing it to Buffy, "is how I took that opportunity."

And Buffy came face-to-face… with…

The Crystallizer.

"The one on your world was destroyed," said Elizabeth, lowering it. "The one on mine wasn't. And thanks to you… I knew exactly where to find it."

"That thing's dangerous," Buffy warned. "It wants to destroy the human race. If you're not careful—"

"Like I care about the human race!" Elizabeth shouted. She shot Buffy a deranged look, tucking the Crystallizer under her arm. "Earth fell after the 456. At least half the population's gone, now. The rest won't be far behind. They're cretins. Imbecilic half-wits. Useless people in a locked away timeline that's falling apart, anyways. Why save them?"

Buffy thought of Seo.

The child saved from a timeline falling apart.

And looked away.

"The only thing that matters," said Elizabeth, "is the Crystallizer. Me. And you."

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the increasing pounding in her head. "You screwed around with the Crystallizer," Buffy guessed, resting her head against the bars. "Amplifying the side-effects. To turn yourself into me, and me into you — and cure your insanity."

Elizabeth seemed amused.

"It won't work," said Buffy, cracking her eyes open. "You might be trying to swap us, but that's not what you're actually doing! You're just squashing us together. You won't cure yourself, Elizabeth — you'll just drag me down with you!"

"But I like being me," Elizabeth replied.

This made Buffy falter.

Confused, again.

"Oh, you really don't get it, do you?!" Elizabeth threw up her hands in frustration. "I _don't want_ to be you! I never did! When we're separated, again, we'll revert back to who we were. Me, Elizabeth; you, Buffy. _That's_ not the point. It's not why you're here!"

"Then why…?" Buffy started.

Then stopped.

Because she knew the answer. Knew it as it crept through her.

"UNIT thought they were my only jailers," said Elizabeth. "But there's a larger prison to escape — a prison spanning this entire reality. And only two Keys can unlock it."

"That's why you were all with the theatrics and threats when you took me," Buffy realized. "So they'd know where I went. And come after me."

Elizabeth grinned.

"You jerk!" Buffy shouted, throwing herself at the bars, again. Trying to tear them apart. Urged on by the knowledge that this trap was not for her. And she needed to save her family!

Elizabeth just tutted.

Turned back to her work.

"One of them's already turned up," Elizabeth said, raising up the Crystallizer, again. Analyzing it in detail. "I've diverted her away from here. But… don't worry. She's not alone." She reached out to something embedded into the lab table. "Time to keep her occupied… until things are complete on this side."


	4. Chapter 4

The rain roared around Dawn's ears.

Soaking her to the skin. As she shuddered, beneath its torrents. Looking out at the little crack in reality, just where the portal should be. Such a small thing, but… a link.

"I'm the link," Dawn reminded herself. "The Key."

She kept thinking it, through her head. Over and over again.

Even as the roar of the rain grew louder and louder, almost shaking the ground and the structure beneath Dawn with the ferocity of its…

Wait.

Dawn glanced down.

And a much greater shudder overtook her, as she saw the cluster of horses and medieval knights galloping, full-speed, towards her. Their bows ready in their hands, to release their arrows.

Their shouts and cries swimming through the air.

Dawn almost toppled over, as the first barrage of arrows thunked into the wood around her. And she realized… up here… she was a sitting target.

"I'm not human," Dawn reminded herself, scrambling to climb back down the structure as fast as she could. "I'm the Key. I'm just energy. Arrows can't hurt me!"

Actually, she had no idea if arrows could hurt her.

But she wasn't sticking around to find out.

Lightning flashed through the sky, striking the top of the structure and making the crudely nailed wood shatter, around her. Dawn cried out, as she tumbled through the air, falling and unable to stop herself…

Then thudded into the squelching mud, below.

"Ow," said Dawn, struggling to drag herself back to her feet. Her whole body felt like one huge bruise, and she had no idea how she'd managed not to break anything. She tried to scrape as much mud as she could off her face. "Not human. The Key. I'm the Key. I'm Dawn Summers, and I'm the Key. The link."

"And the link must be severed!" shouted a voice just in front of her.

Another flash of lightning, and Dawn could see them all.

The Knights of Byzantium.

Their horses stuck in the mud, some ways back. Now all dismounted, their swords in their hands, as they surrounded her.

"Wait, you're seriously wearing metal armor — in a barren mud pit — during a lightning storm?" Dawn rolled her eyes. "Geeze. Talk about Knights of Stupid-ium."

It was only through luck, alone, that she slipped in the mud, stumbling back and out of the way of the sword that swiped at her.

"The Key is the link!" shouted the Knight. "The link must be severed. Such is the will of God!"

"Such is the will of God!" shouted the others.

Dawn raised her hands. "Whoa, whoa, calm down!" she protested. "Let's just… talk about this! I mean, when you say, 'God', you don't actually mean some woman with sunglasses on her head, right? Because that's not God, it's Seo in a future regeneration!"

The Knights paused, a moment.

Looking completely confused. Like they didn't have any idea who she was talking about, or why anyone with sunglasses would wander around calling themselves God.

"Seo!" Dawn said. Pointing at where the portal seemed to be. "You know! Seo?"

"She means the Beast!" shouted one of the Knights. "The hidden name of Glorificus!"

This seemed to provoke a wild reaction from the Knights of Byzantium, around Dawn, who all grabbed up their swords and began hacking at her. Dawn dove down into the mud, sliding away from them.

"Blasphemer!" some shouted.

"How dare you call the Beast a god?!" others shouted. "How dare you defile the legacy of the Lord's messenger — who gave Sir Frederick his quest a thousand years since — with this talk of… sunglasses?!"

Dawn slid between the knights, using the darkness to her advantage, until she was out of the cluster of them. Then shoved herself back onto her feet and began to run.

The squelch of her feet gave her away.

They all turned.

"Destroy the link!" shouted one of the knights, charging. "Halt the end of time! Save the messenger of God!"

"Destroy the ally of the Beast!" shouted the other knights.

"Seo isn't Glory!" Dawn shouted behind her. "I mean, she is. But the Glory you knew isn't really… oh, never mind!"

She had the feeling none of these guys were listening to her, anyways.

Just charged forwards, trying to see through the driving rain that was smacking into her eyes with every step. Struggling to do what Seo told her, keep the link open, keep the mantra running inside her head…

"I'm the Key," Dawn repeated to herself. "Just the Key. Not human. Just energy. I'm the Key, I'm the link, and I'm here to rescue my sister!"

She should have been looking where she was going.

But the clang and the searing pain running through her was the first indication that she'd collided with a knight, right in front of her.

The Knight hadn't seen her, either.

Which was good.

Otherwise, she'd probably have run into his sword and be dead, by now.

And then Seo and Buffy would never make it back!

"You!" shouted the knight. Advancing on her. "The Key! The link!"

The other knights began to catch up with them. The fastest arriving with their swords drawn. Ready to finish her off.

But Dawn wasn't fourteen, anymore.

And she was smart enough, the moment she'd collided with that knight, to know what she'd hit, and how to use it to her advantage.

The others slammed their swords down, but Dawn rolled through the mud, out of the way.

In the distance, lightning flashed. One of the knights, his sword forming a perfect electrical conductor, screamed, as the electrical current flooded through him.

The others stared, in horror.

All the advantage Dawn needed.

She leapt to her feet. "Hey, Knight-Crash-Test-Dummy!" Dawn shouted at the knight she'd run into. "Missing something?"

Then held up the sword, in her hands.

The one she'd grabbed off him, back when they'd collided. Like a pickpocket.

The knight faltered. "What…? How…?"

Dawn lunged at him, swinging the sword expertly. Her every blow perfectly placed. Enough to wound — not to kill.

The knights around them noticed the fray, and began to run to their comrade's aid.

But Dawn was ready for them, too.

Parrying their blows, faking them out and then lunging for any exposed bits she could get at, through the armor.

"I _am_ the Key," Dawn said. "But I'm also Dawn Summers!" Her sword clanged against another knights, as she skittered out of the way of a knight to her right. "And I've been fighting off worse monsters than you for a long time, now!"

Another sword came a little too close for Dawn's comfort.

And Dawn could hear more voices joining in, as the other knights caught up. Knew… despite all the bluster and the bravado, despite everything she'd learned or how good she was with a sword… there was no way one person could win against several hundred knights of Byzantium.

The numbers didn't work out.

Worse still… as Dawn glanced up at the sky… she realized that when Seo and Buffy did get back, with the scaffolding torn down, that meant they'd wind up with a huge jump down into a giant pit. One they wouldn't survive.

"Hope things are okay on your side, Seo," Dawn gritted through her teeth. "Because the plan's already shot to hell over here!"

* * *

Seo groaned.

As she opened her eyes. And discovered… she was inside. And not alone.

"Sounds like you're awake," said the man beside her. He swung around to face her, a nasty-looking, long-blade knife in his hands. "Don't be fooled. I might not be able to see very well, but I'm good with a knife."

Seo stared at him. "Xander?"

It was… almost him.

Except this version looked scarred. His eyes flickering around at random, as if searching for something he couldn't see. And something else — like there was a darkness inside his soul that had been eating away at him for a long time, now.

"Xander," said Willow's voice — sounding weary, sadder than the Willow Seo knew. "I don't think it's her."

Willow wheeled her wheelchair forwards, towards Seo. Like Xander, this Willow seemed more scarred and disillusioned than the one she knew.

Willow examined Seo, carefully. "Definitely not her," Willow decided. "Elizabeth's eyes aren't brown."

"Dalek Replicants have the wrong color eyes, sometimes," Xander reminded her. Holding out the knife by Seo's chest. "You remember what the Doctor said, last time he was here. There's some big war going on, out there, with the Daleks. Maybe they've finally arrived on Earth."

Seo didn't have time for this.

She had a mom to rescue.

She rolled out of striking distance of Xander's knife, and popped back to her feet. "Look, I'm sorry," she said. "But I have to go. Mom's been taken. I don't have much time to get her back."

Every second she left the link open between the Time War and the outside universe, everything was in danger. No matter how small the crack between the two — there was always a chance something could get out.

"Good luck," Seo told the alternate Willow and Xander, as she spun around and turned to race out the door of the room they were in.

Willow raised up her hands.

And Seo slammed into a magical barrier Willow had erected, blocking the door.

She stumbled backwards, rubbing her face with her hands. "Ow! That hurt!"

"And Xander will make you hurt even more, if you try any funny-business," said Willow. Xander looking poised and ready to strike, beside her. A bodyguard. "So you better start explaining. Who are you? Where did you come from? And why do you look like Elizabeth?"

"I don't have time for this!" Seo shouted at them. Spinning back around. "You have to let me out! There's—"

"Let you out there?" Willow shook her head. "You're not even armed."

Seo paused. Frowning. "Armed?" Trying to make sense of this in her mind. "We… we're in Sunnydale, right? A Sunnydale without the Hellmouth?"

Xander seemed a little incredulous. "How can she not know?"

"I saw her quite literally fall out of the sky," said Willow. "Maybe she's an alien. Maybe she really _doesn't_ know." Willow wheeled her chair closer. "Are you wearing a holo-guise, to blend in and look human?"

"Maybe she's the Doctor," Xander offered. "You said he changed faces, last time you saw him. To prepare him… for war… or something." He shrugged. "Maybe he changed his face again. Along with… other parts of him."

Willow sighed, bitterly. "If the Doctor _could_ come back here, don't you think he'd have stopped Elizabeth and saved the world, back when things first started falling apart?" She dismissed the notion with the wave of her hand. "No. He's busy, Xander. This isn't the Doctor — it's someone else." Her eyes fell on Seo. "So who are you?"

Seo felt her head spinning. "The world's… been… destroyed?" Her eyes darted to the barrier blocking the door. "What's out there? What happened? What did… Elizabeth… do?"

"She knows Elizabeth," Xander noted.

"Elizabeth kidnapped my mom!" shouted Seo, clenching her hands into fists. "Tore into my timeline and grabbed her away, into this one! Of course I know her! She's mad and evil and wants Mom dead, and I can't let that happen. I have to rescue Mom."

Willow and Xander's defensiveness faded, just a hair.

As they heard.

"Elizabeth… mentioned an other-timeline," said Willow. "An other-her. Who still called herself 'Buffy'."

"And was dead," Xander put in.

"But was going to get resurrected," said Willow. "Must have been resurrected! I remember — when I visited Elizabeth in prison, right at the end, she seemed really fixated on Buffy. How great other-her's life was. How other-her was free and happy, with… a kid."

Willow looked back at Seo.

Intrigued.

"This is the kid," Xander realized.

"This is the kid," Willow confirmed. She wheeled over to Seo, held out her hand. "Willow Rosenberg," she introduced. "Witch, world-saver, and a friend of the Doctor's — if you know him."

Seo shook it. Not sure what else to do.

"That's Xander," said Willow, nodding at him. "Also a friend of the Doctor's. Good with the fighting. Not so good with the magic."

Xander stepped up behind Willow, protectively.

"And I think we're all heading to the same place," Willow provided. "The ruins of Sunnydale. To confront Elizabeth."

"You can't save her, Will," said Xander, in a quiet but stern voice.

Willow didn't answer.

"The Doctor trusted us to stop her," said Xander. "It's our duty."

"He'd never have wanted her dead," Willow hissed. "His latest persona's… more… warlike, yeah. But he's still not some cold-blooded killer! He'd never want us to…!"

"What choice do we have?" Xander demanded. "Look at what she's done, Will! Look what's happened to the world — and she doesn't care! Not if it ensures her own freedom." Shook his head. "No. We should have done this a long time ago."

"What happened?" Seo insisted. "What's going on with the world? What's outside?"

Willow and Xander were quiet for a long time.

Then Willow sighed, and nodded at Xander, who gathered up weapons. She waved her hand, and the barrier across the door disappeared. Then wheeled her chair over to the doorway.

"I'll show you," Willow said.


	5. Chapter 5

Xander crept out, ears at the ready. Moment he heard the sound, he spun around, aiming at the sky, and shot with a futuristic-looking gun.

A screeching demon cried out.

Then slammed down onto the sidewalk, beside them.

"Stop that!" Seo demanded, trying to wrestle the gun from Xander. "What did that creature ever do to you? You didn't have to—!"

A blue-skinned fanged monster lunged at them, growling, its claws raised. Willow only just had time to erect a magical force-barrier around them, before it reached them.

They were safe.

For now.

Xander shoved Seo away, grabbing back his gun. "They have no souls, no thoughts, no nothing — just animalistic evilness," Xander snapped at her. "If we don't kill them, they'll kill us."

"And that's precisely the kind of thinking that starts needless wars!" Seo insisted.

Willow chuckled, beneath her breath. "She sounds like the Doctor did, before he changed his face."

Xander spun Seo around, by the shoulders. "Look out there," he said. "Look at the world. That's what we're up against. That's what Elizabeth did to us."

Seo looked.

And saw chaos.

Demons and monsters throughout. Little ripples of space-time eddies, springing up across the planet's surface. Heard the sounds of distant gunfire. The screams of people being torn apart, just out of sight.

"It's anarchy, out there," said Xander. "The apocalypse. The end of the world." His voice grew dark, biting. "And Elizabeth caused it. All of it."

Seo couldn't believe it.

One human being — not even a Slayer-powered one — causing all this!

"How?" said Seo.

"It began with the aliens who came to our world, demanding children," Willow explained. "No one knew how to stop them. Some tried to fight back, but a biological agent wiped them out in minutes. So the governments gave the aliens what they wanted."

"Willow and I didn't know anything about the deal until it was too late to stop it," said Xander. "But… Elizabeth did."

"She exposed what happened," said Willow. "Made sure everyone knew about it. Knew every detail. Especially about how their governments and UNIT betrayed them. The people rose up. Overthrew their governments. Stormed UNIT."

"Allowing Elizabeth to escape," said Xander. He clenched his fist around his gun. "But that wasn't enough for her."

Seo looked out at the landscape. "She released monsters?"

"Every monster she could find," Willow agreed. She gestured into the distance. "Starting with the Cardiff Rift. Abaddon's still storming through Eurasia, his shadow draining the life out of people."

Seo shuddered.

"She used the distraction to escape England," said Xander. "But not before she'd gotten her hands on some powerful weapon that had been buried beneath the ground for ages. We still don't know what."

"But she needed that weapon in Sunnydale," said Willow. "She needed workers and slaves she could call on, there, to do her dirty work. So she found a weak spot in space-time, and opened up… something called… a Hellmouth."

Which explained all the demons and things.

"Why's she still alive, then?" said Seo. "I've seen the sorts of people who release monsters, like this. They always wind up getting overpowered and destroyed by the very same monsters they released in the first place!"

"Because she controls them," said Xander.

"The machinery beneath Sunnydale," Willow agreed. "She altered it. Activated it. Brainwashed every evil thing out there to obey only her commands. Even Abaddon."

Seo felt a shiver run through her.

All this… from an alternate-timeline version of her mom?

Was this how Aunt Dawn saw _her_? Was that why Aunt Dawn didn't trust her so much, anymore? Because she was an evil alternate-timeline version of…?

Seo banished the thought from her mind.

That wasn't helping.

Not at all.

"If these things are under Elizabeth's control," said Seo, "and they're attacking us… that means Elizabeth doesn't want us near her. She wants Mom for something. To do something even worse to you two and all the other poor people still alive, on Earth." She stood tall, ready for any challenge. "And we have to stop her."

Willow sighed.

"That's the idea, yeah," Xander agreed. "Get rid of Elizabeth. Get rid of anything she's planning. End the craziness."

"But _how_ ," Willow insisted. "That's the problem! We can't even move without being attacked on all sides by evil baddies. How are we going to…?"

Seo stepped forwards. "Release the barrier," she said. Slipping down into a fighting stance. "Time to use what I learned from Mom. And slay the monsters."

* * *

Another clap of lightning.

Then a sudden burst of fire, in the distance. Mud splattering down around them, as the ground shook and the sounds of knights screaming seared through Dawn's mind.

And the roar kept getting louder.

The knights looking around, then diving out of the way, as a single headlight shone through the darkness, swerving through the knights and skittering to a stop just in front of Dawn.

"Hop on!" shouted an English-accented voice, from the driver.

Dawn didn't have to be told twice.

Jumped onto the motorcycle, just behind the driver. As the knights regrouped, and began to lunge forwards, to strike at Dawn, again.

"The link must be severed!" shouted the knights.

"Yeah, yeah!" said the woman driver. Starting up the motor, and tearing the top off something small with her teeth. "Tell it to the Nitro Nine!"

Then tossed the canister over her shoulder.

And zoomed off, on the motorcycle. The two zipping into the rain, as the sound of a roaring explosion slammed them forwards even faster.

"Woo-hoo!" cried the driver.

Dawn clung to the driver's waist, tight as she could. Trying to repeat to herself… the Key… not human… just the Key…

"What did those oversized lightning conductors want with you, anyways?" said the driver. But before Dawn could answer, the driver looked in her mirrors. "Actually — hold that thought."

Then punched at a button on the bike.

And a shimmering force-wall surged into place, around them. Just before a flood of arrows impacted, then bounced off it.

"Supposed to hold off Dalek firepower," the driver said. "Should stop arrows no problem." She swung the bike around, to avoid hitting a charging horse with a knight on horseback. "Too slow, MacDuff!" she shouted. Then swerved, to avoid another knight. "I really want to know what they're all doing out here. And what they want with you."

Dawn kept trying to keep her mind fixated on what Seo had told her.

She was the Key… she was the link… she wasn't human, just energy wearing a human form…

But there was something else sneaking in, through that. Something weird about the driver. Her voice.

"Have we met before?" Dawn asked.

"Could have!" said the driver, as they approached the edge of the Sunnydale crater. "I meet lots of people. Hold on tight!"

She revved the engine, and they slammed forwards.

The bike bursting over the edge of the muddy slope with a kind of traction it really _shouldn't_ have had. Zooming through the air, and then landing with a definitive thump down on solid ground, above the crater.

The driver skidded the bike to a stop.

Looking out over the crater's edge, at all the gathered knights. "Oh, and you can all tell your mums," she called out to them, "that they make rubbish costumes, and they better get some sewing instructions before they start making your Star Wars cosplay outfits!"

Then, with a laugh, she kicked the bike into action, and zoomed off.

"Who… are you?" said Dawn.

"You first," said the driver. "Name. What you're doing. And why they want to kill you."

"Dawn," said Dawn. "Dawn Summers. I'm saving my family."

"Yeah? Well, my name's Ace," the driver introduced herself. "And this is my bike." She grinned down at it. "Time motor's burned out, but it still makes a handy getaway tool. And right now, we need one."

Ace…

Dawn knew that name… from somewhere…

Then realized they were speeding away from Sunnydale. Away from the link she was trying to keep open.

"No!" said Dawn. Trying to grab out at the handlebars, turn the bike around. "We've got to go back! We've got to keep the link open!"

"Link?" said Ace.

"I'm the Key — I'm the link!" shouted Dawn. "My family's on the other side! They're going to appear in mid-air, any minute, and then tumble down to their deaths, surrounded by medieval knights."

"Wait, wait, wait!" said Ace, skidding the bike to a halt and disabling the force field. She turned to Dawn. "Link with what? What are you going on about?"

"No time to explain!" said Dawn. "Please. My family's in danger. They're going to be appearing right over that crater, back there, and I need to be around, or they're all doomed. That's what I am! The Key! The Link! What's stabilizing everything!"

Ace shook her head.

"It's true!" said Dawn. "Look there's this… other-timeline. With an evil version of my sister. My real sister's been kidnapped by the evil version. So Seo and I set up a kind of tunnel thing to that world, so we could rescue her, and…"

But Ace's head-shaking was getting faster and faster. Shaking more and more.

Lightning flashed, again.

Showing Dawn a glimpse of the Sunnydale crater. Where every single Knight of Byzantium had frozen, as well. Their heads shaking in exactly the same way as Ace's.

And something began tearing through Dawn.

Trying to make her shake.

Trying to pull her inside out, trying to… to…

The crack in the sky began to glow, just the way the portal had in 2001, when it had gone unstable. A sizzling energy seeping out around the edges, getting ready to strike at reality around it.

And Dawn focused her thoughts.

"No! I'm the Key!" Dawn shouted at herself. "I'm not a human being! I'm just the Key!"

The crack stabilized.

And so did every other person around her.

As, with another flash of lightning, Dawn found herself surrounded — not by the Knights in the Sunnydale Crater, not by Ace on her motorcycle, but by…

"Harold Saxon!" Dawn cried.

Hundreds of copies of Harold Saxon, all around her. Wearing the other people's clothes, like every human had morphed into him. His eyes just as insane as when he'd killed the President, up on the Valiant. His grin just as manic.

As every Saxon copy looked around himself, getting used to his new surroundings.

Dawn didn't have time to think.

Just elbowed the Saxon-copy in Ace's clothing off the motorcycle, and revved the engine. The bike squealing through the mud, as it gained traction and raced into the distance.

Dawn had no idea what had just happened.

Or why.

But the faces of Harold Saxon made her remember the nightmares she'd made herself forget. The nightmares about the end of the world. The nightmares that showed this. And Dawn was certain… that she'd only been spared the changer, herself, because she was the Key — just for this little while. That every other human on Earth had changed into… Saxon.

The Master.

"The guy who tortured and traumatized Seo, Jack, and Martha's family," said Dawn. "Gave this world over to those Toclafane things. And made Elizabeth totally nutso." She pushed the bike as fast as it could go, heading it towards the house that Buffy had bought, outside the Sunnydale crater. "And that means… I'm gonna need mega weapons."


	6. Chapter 6

Seo charged through the monsters. Flipping across a Oxyshorn Demon's back, twisting the flip so that she could kick out at a flying Woxor Demon, nearby.

Xander spun around, shooting at the snarling noises that tore through the air.  
As Willow blasted as many monsters as she could with magical energy.

They were making progress. Slow progress, but progress. Seo could see, in the distance, a town long-abandoned, looming empty in the night.

Sunnydale.

And one single building had power. Lights inside the windows. And more demons and monsters circling the outside than any other.

A huge, tall building, towering over all the others.

Seo managed to punch the nearest demons so that they dropped to the ground. Unconscious, but not dead. She didn't like killing things — not if she could help it.

"That building," said Seo, grabbing the back of Willow's wheelchair and pushing it towards the city of Sunnydale. "She built it specifically for this. Didn't she?"

"It wasn't there when Sunnydale was destroyed," Willow confirmed. "But why…?"

Seo knew why.

Knew exactly where the top floor of that building was located, and why it had needed to be that tall, and in that precise location.

"That's where the portal opens up," said Seo. "She's guarding it."

* * *

Buffy clutched her head, trying to stop a cry of pain from passing through her lips.  
Elizabeth, on the other side of the bars, staggered. Her own hand to her head. "It's happening," she said, reaching out with her free hand to catch herself. Gave a little, breathless laugh. "I can feel it. See everything you've ever done."

And Buffy felt that burning, bitter hatred crawling through her. Felt a horrible sense of madness and fear and desperation blossoming inside herself, one she couldn't face and didn't want to admit even existed.

No!

She was herself!

She had to… had to be… it wasn't her fault…!

"You can't win," Buffy said. "I'm… I've got a plan. A plan… to use your family against you. Escape…"

Then she doubled over.

Gritting her teeth, howling in anger and fury and frustration.

"No, I'm not Elizabeth, I'm Buffy!" she shouted. "Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!"

"And so am I!" shouted Elizabeth, equally breathless and unstable. "We're the same! We're going to be the same!"

"It's what the Crystallizer's doing to us," Buffy breathed.

Because she knew. Because she could see the whole plan weaving together inside her mind, along with the memory of seven long years, locked up in a UNIT prison. And the time after she escaped…

Releasing Abaddon.

Punching holes in the universe, to invite the monsters to Sunnydale.

"You said you liked being you!" shouted Buffy, through the pain and confusion. Or… she thought she was Buffy. How could she tell? "Why with the personality squashing? Why with the making-us-each-other?"

Elizabeth gave a small laugh. "You really don't get it, yet?" she said. Shrugged out of her lab coat, to reveal her clothing.

The exact same that Buffy was wearing.

And Buffy had a horrible feeling, deep down inside, that she knew exactly what Elizabeth was planning. Why Elizabeth had changed them both into the same clothes. Why Elizabeth had needed to wait for the Crystallizer to crank into full action before Seo showed up.

Elizabeth pointed to the cell next to Buffy. The one identical in every way. "We're the same," she said. "Exactly the same. When your daughter shows up to rescue you… she won't know which one's her mom. And which is the imposter."

"She'll know," Buffy said.

"How?" Elizabeth gestured between them. "We look the same. We're gaining each other's memories. Anything different about us… is equalizing… under the Crystallizer." She staggered towards the cell beside Buffy. "Your stupid daughter… will save me. Thinking it's you."

"You're underestimating her," said Buffy. Grabbing the bars, forcing herself to remember… she was Buffy. She was herself. She wasn't Elizabeth. "Seo's clever. Like her father."

Elizabeth stumbled onto the floor. Her hands around her head. Forcing herself forwards, despite the pain. Forcing herself to seem calm, collected, controlled…

Even as time was resculpting both of them.

"I'm gaining freedom, along with both a husband and a child," said Elizabeth, grinning. "I'm going to like usurping your life, other-me. I'm really looking forwards to it."

"A husband?" said Buffy.

Then, suddenly, burst out laughing.

As she realized…

"You haven't gotten that memory, yet!" Buffy cried. "Oh, this is great! You know all about my life, but you don't know who Seo's father is! You have absolutely no idea where she came from."

Elizabeth didn't answer.

"Come on, you know there's something weird about her!" said Buffy. "She's the Key. And she's my daughter, even though she looks almost the same age as me."

The beats in her head were intensifying. Trying to drown out any and all thought inside her.

But Buffy didn't let them.

"Dig around in my memories!" shouted Buffy. "Figure it out! Find out whose life you're trying to usurp, who I love, and if you'd really like that as much as you think!"

Elizabeth froze.

Her face suddenly going pale.

As she stared at Buffy in wide-eyed horror. "No…"

Buffy cracked up. "There you go! That's the right memory!"

"You!" screamed Elizabeth, dragging herself to her feet. "She's… her father is…!"

"Your life is hatred and grudges," said Buffy, "mine is love and forgiveness. That's what separates us, Elizabeth! It's how Seo will know, the moment she sees us, who's who. No matter how long we've spent around the Crystallizer!"

Elizabeth's whole body was shaking.

Her eyes murderous.

"I'm going to kill you!" Elizabeth screamed, wrenching an iron bar off the front of the cell, and running at Buffy. "I'll kill you for that!"

The bar clanged against those keeping Buffy trapped inside her own cell.

Buffy laughed, even harder. "I don't just admire him," she said. "I love him! I trust him — with everything I've got in me! And I love Seo — not just because she's mine. But because she's his!"

The statement got the desired reaction from Elizabeth.

As Elizabeth unlocked Buffy's cell, slamming the bars aside and racing inside. Swinging the iron bar at Buffy, hard as she could.

Buffy caught it before it struck, then shoved the bar back up, throwing Elizabeth with it — over her shoulder and crashing into the far wall.

"You yanked that bar off," said Buffy, springing to her feet. "That means you're getting my Slayer strength… and so am I. The Crystallizer's neutralized the drugs."

Elizabeth also jumped back to her feet, throwing a flip kick that shoved Buffy away from the door. "I gained your strength," said Elizabeth. "And all your knowledge about fighting."

She punched out, and Buffy blocked her. Then kicked, trying to off-balance her, race outside to help her daughter, but Elizabeth caught the leg and twisted it around, shoving Buffy so she flew through the air.

The Crystallizer pulsed, and they both cried out, at once.

Each one's injuries and scrapes imprinting onto the other, as the Crystallizer did its work. Morphing and merging them together.

"I won't let you hurt my daughter!" shouted Elizabeth.

"You're not going to escape!" said Buffy. "I won't let you. This is _my_ plan, and I've…" Then realized, "No! Wait! That's wrong. _I'm_ the Buffy-one. _You're_ the Elizabeth-one."

The Crystallizer was working.

Just the way that Elizabeth had said it would. Working and whirring and changing around…

Which was when Buffy realized something. Something Elizabeth hadn't thought of. Something that chilled her to the bone.

"The Crystallizer only does this," Buffy breathed, "when the Time Lords are up to something. Manipulating the outcomes."

Elizabeth lunged at Buffy, fury written across her every feature. "Monster!" she screamed, grabbing the bar and trying to slam it down across Buffy's head. "Murderer! Insane nutcase!"

Buffy only just managed to flip out of the way in time. "I'm not in control!" Buffy screamed. "I mean… you're not in control! Whatever! My point is, the Crystallizer's manipulating something else, and we're just getting the side-effects!"

Elizabeth charged again, and Buffy caught her by the arm.

"Someone wants a portal open to this Time War reality, you idiot!" shouted Buffy, in her face. "Someone besides us! Someone who's happy to destroy the world as long as it lets them get free! What the hell are we doing, giving it to them? We have to work together! Stop this!"

Elizabeth paused.

Breathing hard.

"Work together," she said. Her eyes darting over to the Crystallizer. Then she stepped away from Buffy. "Yes! Yes, you're right. We've got to save the world." Raced over to the lab table, gesturing for Buffy to follow. She picked up the Crystallizer. Tossed it to Buffy. "Hold that. I know something that can get rid of it."

Buffy grinned, a little.

"Guess a little injection of Buffy into your brain is good for you, after all, huh?" she said. The Crystallizer was definitely working overtime on something. Question was… what? And why?

"And a little of my cleverness in you would be good, too," Elizabeth agreed. Her voice darkening, as she came back. "If you had it."

Buffy looked up, just too late to stop Elizabeth from slamming an iron bar into her head.  
Buffy slumped, her world fading to black.

The Crystallizer sliding from her hands.

"Imbecile," said Elizabeth.


	7. Chapter 7

The Masters noticed Dawn.

How could they not?

She wasn't them!

She'd flipped through channels on TV. Seen the live footage, across the world. Knew what was happening. She'd been right. Everyone on Earth… was the Master.

Everyone except her.

"How did this happen?" Dawn said, gathering up weapons, pointing them at the barricaded front door, where the Masters were trying to get in. "And how the hell can I summon the Doctor, to get me out of this?"

No.

Focus.

Most important thing was… she had to keep open the link. Had to remember that she was the Key. Had to remember that she wasn't human, just some green glowing energy approximating a human form.

"And if I didn't believe that, before," said Dawn, "I definitely believe it, now."

After all.

If she'd been human, she'd have turned into the Master, too.

Dawn double checked her weapons, and got into position, behind the barricade she'd built.

As the door burst open.

Dawn fired. Chucking everything she had at them. Things from Ace's backpack. Things she'd gathered to fight off Elizabeth. And a blast from a very alien gun that Buffy owned, which incinerated the Masters as they entered the house.

They stopped coming.

And Dawn stayed put. Her mind racing. Okay. Things to do! First, she had to keep open the link. Second, she had to figure out some way to call the Doctor — since he was the Master-fighting expert. Get him over here to reverse time or whatever, get back the human race! Third…

Third, Seo and Buffy were going to pop out of that portal at any minute, with no structure or platform to catch them. They'd plummet to their deaths — and even if they didn't — they'd wind up stuck in the middle of a million Masters.

Seo would freak.

"You and Donna Noble," came the Master's voice, from outside the house. "The only two humans not changed by the Immortality Gate. I wonder why."

That made Dawn hesitate.

Seriously? Donna? Like, the same Donna she'd known?

That was weird.

Why wasn't Donna affected?

She was pretty sure Donna wasn't the Key.

"You can't keep vaporizing me forever," said the Master, in a sing-song. "There's always more mes, around, to fill in the gaps."

"Yeah?" Dawn called back. Turning to the library Buffy had placed into this little house thing of hers. Looking for magic books and summoning spells. If she was energy, maybe she could use that! "And what defeats six billion Masters? Oh, I know! One Doctor!"

"Who's tied up and helpless, back in London," said the Master's voice.

Dawn froze.

Okay, Doctor was already here. With Donna, maybe? Oh, maybe that was why Donna hadn't been changed — she'd been in the TARDIS when all that stuff had happened, and the Master didn't realize it!

"Good," said Dawn. Her eyes skimming Buffy's bookshelf, on the wall behind her. "If he's already here, then I don't need to worry about you losers at all. Sooner or later, the Doctor will get free and finish you off. So I can deal with my own problems."

She grabbed a book off the bookshelf.

Thank you, Buffy, for scouring book shops all over the place trying to find books she thought Seo might like! Because this was exactly the kind of book that Dawn needed, right now.

"I don't think so," said the Master.

As, suddenly, a swarm of Masters burst through the door, all armed with the Knights of Byzantium's weapons. And it looked to Dawn like the Master had actually been to the middle ages, and did actually know how to sword fight pretty well.

"The Master's Race has no use for you," said the Masters. "Time to die!"

"Got to catch me, first!" Dawn shouted, tucking the book under her arm and leaping onto the motorcycle. She threw it into gear, and raced it over a turned-over table from her barricade, launching the bike into the air and smashing it through a window.

Then headed the bike right back towards the Sunnydale crater.

Or somewhere near there.

The rain had finally eased up, the moon beginning to peak beneath the clouds, and Dawn needed a place to hide. Redirected the bike towards a cave she knew, on the outskirts of Sunnydale. One of the cave tunnels once used by the Initiative and Adam.

She'd find tons of stuff there that she could use.

She was so focused on her task, she didn't notice something tumbling out of the link she was holding open. A small stone, soaring through the sky, burning bright enough that every Master copy could see it for miles and miles.

A White-Point Star.

* * *

Willow, Xander, and Seo raced into the abandoned building beside the one Elizabeth was inhabiting. Xander and Seo began barricading the door, to make sure no evil monsters got at them, in there.

Willow wheeled over to the window.

Looking out at the building that contained Elizabeth.

Surveying and taking in its many defenses and safeguards. The vampires patrolling the perimeter. The demons swooping through the skies, looking out for intruders. The technological traps and marvels of technology that were laid around the actual entrance to the building, itself.

"A building constructed by hell demons, to destroy the world," Willow complained, "and she didn't even have the decency to make it ADA compliant!" She pointed an angry finger at the front door, with the steps. "You're supposed to have a wheelchair ramp! That's the law!"

"Willow's Kryptonite," Xander said, dragging a bench up against the door. "Stairs."

"Like you're any better, Blindy," said Willow.

Seo looked up into Xander's eyes. Confused. "Your eyes seem to be fine, though," she said. "They haven't been gouged out or anything. And…" swinging around to face Willow. "Your legs are in perfect order, too. You should be able to walk!"

"It's not the body parts that are broken — it's the brain," Xander sighed. "The eyes are no use if the part of your brain that interprets the signals has been burned out." He gestured at Willow. "Just like her legs would work fine… if the part of her brain that sent signals to them still worked properly."

"I should have been paralyzed completely," said Willow. "And Xander shouldn't be able to see anything at all."

"Technically, we should both be dead, actually," Xander muttered. "Like the rest of Sunnydale."

Seo looked between Willow and Xander.

Feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness, as she recalled… these buildings were only abandoned because Elizabeth had killed everyone inside of them. Burned out their brains completely.

"How did you two escape?" said Seo.

Willow and Xander paused in their work.

Both with little smiles on their faces.

"The Doctor," they both said, together.

Willow gave a small laugh. "We hated him, at the time!" she said. "I mean, we'd been hearing Elizabeth badmouth him ever since she got back. We just assumed she was right. That he was evil."

"That was us told," Xander agreed.

"He brought us into his TARDIS, when Elizabeth killed off the town," said Willow. "Us and anyone else he could save. I couldn't move a muscle, Xander was blind as a bat, and we'd both spent all that time trying to kill him — but he still just grabbed me up in his arms, carried me in there, guiding Xander inside. Gave me most of my motor functions back, helped Xander to see at least the general outlines of shapes. Mended up everyone as best he could."

That sounded, to Seo, like her father.

"Yep," said Xander. Crossing his arms, and leaning against the wall. "Sucks when you find out that the person you thought was the hero has just butchered a town full of people, and the person you thought was the villain is the one running around trying to save them."

And now… that same evil villain person…

Had Mom.

And who knew what was happening to Mom, up there! What could happen every second Seo delayed.

Seo rushed over to Willow. Looking out at the monsters and defenses.

"Even if we could beat back the monsters, there's no way we'll get through the technological defenses," Willow decided. "We'll have to lure her out here."

"And kill her," Xander added.

"We try to save her, first!" Willow insisted.

"We've already tried, Willow!" Xander shouted. "How many times do I have to tell you? The real Elizabeth is gone! This is just some nutcase who's taken her place, and decided to destroy the entire—"

"I can get into the building," said Seo.

Willow and Xander stopped.

Turned back to Seo.

"I'm surprised Elizabeth hasn't worked it out," Seo replied, her eyes glowing. She pointed out the window. "If you connect the technological traps together, they form a sort of harmonious resonance. Building up pressure across the sixth dimension. Build up enough of that pressure… and boom!"

She threw open her hands, to illustrate the point.

"All the evil meanies floating about will go right to sleep!" Seo concluded. "No more monsters. No more technological traps. We can waltz right inside."

Willow fidgeted. "Waltz," she repeated.

Seo turned, beaming at Willow. "I'll carry you!" she decided. "And your wheelchair. We'll waltz together. Like a team! I'm a lot stronger than I look, you know."

Xander didn't move.

Just slouched in place.

"You really think Elizabeth wouldn't know about something like that?" He shook his head. "It seems pretty trap-like to me. Especially because you…" he pointed at Seo, "have heard us mentioning the Doctor a lot, now, and haven't questioned it at all. Which means… you know him."

"Xander, stop it!" said Willow. Rolling her wheelchair over to him. "Whoever this Seo is, she's on our side. I can tell!" She nodded over at Seo. "She acts like him. Gets upset when living creatures get killed or hurt."

"So… what?" said Xander. "She's a companion? A friend? Someone the Doctor would want to rescue?" He stepped forwards. "It's Seo, Willow. Don't you get it? Elizabeth created a bunch of traps and things that only she could get past. Because Elizabeth doesn't want Seo's mom. She wants Seo."

Seo shook her head.

"That's impossible!" Seo insisted. "She doesn't even know me!"

"Elizabeth always knows more than she technically should," Willow muttered. "Don't take anything for granted around her."


	8. Chapter 8

"Elizabeth always knows more than she technically should," Willow muttered. "Don't take anything for granted around her." Willow thought it all through. Then, something striking her, as worry flooded her face. "Oh." She looked over at Seo. "Oh."

"What?" said Seo.

"Yeah," said Xander. "You've figured it out, huh? After all. There's only one group out there who can manipulate time things, and if Seo came from a different timeline—"

"—she's one of them," Willow concluded. "A Time Lord." Her face going pale. "Xander. We never told Elizabeth about the Doctor's war thingy. You said we needed to make her think he was still dropping in and checking up on her all the time!"

"Yeah, and I bet she was really disappointed," Xander agreed, "that when she destroyed the world, the Doctor never showed up to stop her." He adjusted his grip on his gun. "Maybe a passing Dalek floated by and told her the truth."

Seo looked between the two of them. "I don't understand."

"Xander's right — this is a trap," said Willow. "It has to be. If you know the Doctor — or if you're important to the war — she thinks he'll come after you. So she can kill him." Willow sighed, shook her head. "Except he won't. He's got bigger stuff to worry about. He made that pretty clear, the last time we saw him."

But Seo had a very uneasy feeling, niggling away inside of her.

If this was a trap…

Well, Elizabeth might not know about Seo. But she had been to Mom's timeline, before. She knew one other person who could unlock multiversal gateways. And who'd run into the middle of danger, to rescue a sister she loved.

"Aunt Dawn!" said Seo. A smile lighting up her face, as she worked it out. "Oh, it's the Key! That's why she built that structure, there! She's not guarding the gateway, to make sure Mom can't get back! She's not safeguarding against me and Aunt Dawn! She wants to get out! She wants to use me and Aunt Dawn to let her through into our world!"

Xander and Willow looked confused.

But Seo just jumped up and down, applauding her own genius. "It is a trap!" she cried, happily. "It makes sense! She'll set up Mom to be right where Xander and Willow can see her. Willow will cry out, Xander will shoot first and ask questions later. Then Elizabeth will play herself off like she's Mom, and get me to carry her out of here!"

Xander lowered the gun.

Suddenly rattled.

"She's right — if Elizabeth's an alternate timeline version of her mom," Willow said, "they'll look identical. Sound identical. We could get the wrong one, Xander."

"Yeah, I can take the hint," Xander muttered, putting the safety back on his gun. "I might be legally blind. I'm not legally stupid." He paused. "Or… any kind of stupid."

"But don't you understand?" Seo cried. "It's a trap! And that's brilliant!"

Xander gave a mirthless laugh. "'Brilliant'?"

"Yes!" Seo agreed. "It means she wants us all to get up there alive. Get to Mom alive. We all have our parts to play in her plot, and that means she might threaten us, but she won't actually go through with it and kill us."

And, to prove her point, Seo raced over to the barricade, throwing the items away and yanking open the door. Rushing out the door, throwing her arms open.

"Here I am!" Seo shouted. "Not fighting back! So go on! Kill me, already!"

The evil monsters all stopped.

Turned to Seo, their eyes fixed on her. Murderous and hungry.

They seemed to be struggling against something. As if something had a hold of their very natures, and was yanking back their chains. Trying to get them to do its bidding.

Something wavering.

Then one of the monsters broke free.

And so did the others. Racing after the first one, rushing Seo with jaws open and teeth bared.

"Oops," Seo said.

Darting out of the way of a ravenous wolf-looking thing, as a group of vampires blocked her escape back to Willow and Xander. She ducked past a demon's punch, then skidded around some shining-looking entities that tried to encompass and smother her. Her eyes fixed on those technological systems Elizabeth had around the building.

The control box.

She jumped over a snake demon, flipping around to kick out at an airborne flying monster coming at her the other way. Landed by the control box, yanking it open, and frantically wiring the whole thing together. Praying and hoping she'd be fast enough to make this work.

A growl behind her.

Seo spun around, as a horrible bear-looking monster loomed over her, about to strike.

Then the monster cried out, toppling to the side.

To reveal Willow, behind its body. Xander pushing her forwards. Xander's gun nestled in Willow's hands.

"Finish up," said Willow, handing the gun back. "We've got an Elizabeth to bring down. And a world to save."

* * *

She woke up.

Didn't know who she was, at first. Buffy… or Elizabeth. Her head swum with too many memories, all contradicting each other. That horrible pulse throbbed in her skull, threatening to tear her apart. It was getting louder and louder, almost feeding itself into the far wall of the room, into that area by… by the…

She froze.

That area beside the other-her.

That area that had a tiny, faint little crack in reality reaching through it. So faint, in fact, that she might never have noticed it — except there was this pulse beating away inside her head, a pulse that almost seemed to be… leading her to the crack.

Right where the portal should be — a crack. Right now, it was too small for her to get through. But… when Seo came…

"You're awake," said the other-her. Who was not behind bars.

"I'm imprisoned," her-her said, hands closing around the bars locking her away. "That means… I'm Buffy. You're Elizabeth." Then, remembering the last few seconds before she'd been brained by an iron bar, shouted out, "You hit me!"

"And I've got the bump to prove it," Elizabeth replied, her hand on her own head. "But you should have heard yourself. Being all with the, 'We've got to save the world', and 'this is bigger than just us'!" She rolled her eyes. "You were asking for it."

"This is bigger than just us," Buffy snapped. Pointed to the blinking Crystallizer. "It's still doing stuff! You know who controls it and just what they can do. They're in the middle of a massive war, and I know what they did at the end of that war. What they tried to do. The Doctor told me!"

"Nothing is bigger than me!" Elizabeth spat, spinning around to glare at her counterpart. "Not the Time Lords! Not that stupid Doctor! Not you or your daughter or anything!" She stepped forwards. "My freedom! My life! My existence! It trumps everything else in the whole universe. In any universe."

And a part of Buffy felt like… yeah.

She was right.

Total right!

The other part just kept struggling to maintain her own sense of self. The knowledge that she was Buffy.

"That's what this reminds me, every single day!" said Elizabeth, pointing at her head. "Those beats should have made me go crazy, huh? But they didn't. He didn't. The Doctor tried to shove his head into mine, but I fought back. I beat him."

"Yeah, you're all with the sane," Buffy muttered.

Elizabeth checked a reading on her desk. "Your daughter's coming," she said. "Already entered the building. Short trip in the elevator, and she'll be here with the others. All ready for their finest hour."

She gave a small whistle, and a demon emerged from the shadows. Bowing its head to her, as she handed him the key for the cell beside Buffy.

"Time to get this show started," said Elizabeth. Turning, and walking into the cell. "Time to see just how smart your daughter really is."

* * *

The Masters had stopped looking for Dawn.

In fact, they'd all pretty much left. Only a few wandering around, idly, talking in hushed tones about something they'd found nearby that was absolutely fascinating.

Good for Dawn.

It meant none of them noticed as she smashed Ace's bike into pieces. Or smashed up other broken machinery into pieces. Following the instructions in the book she'd taken from Buffy's, trying to get all the smashed up bits to fit together and make something else.

"I'm not just Dawn, anymore," she reminded herself. "I'm the Key. That means I'm kind of Dawn, kind of Seo. And while Dawn might not know how to do this, Seo can do it totally easy."

Which, Dawn was guessing, was the only reason she was succeeding.

She snuck out of the cave. Looked out, at the Sunnydale crater. As the sun began to rise, above the horizon. And dawn approached.

The first tendrils of morning dancing across the crack that was their link to the other world.

"Please, don't come out until I'm finished," Dawn said. Turning and rushing back into the cave. "Please, please, please. Just a little longer, Seo. Just a little longer!"


	9. Chapter 9

Seo set Willow back into her wheelchair, as the elevator rose. Up and up, right to the top. To where that portal was situated. To where her Mom was being held.

Xander had put the gun away, into his pocket.

"But I'm not going in defenseless," Xander insisted, fingering it. "Elizabeth's a nutcase. I'm not letting her get away with it."

"Just make sure you shoot the right one," Willow said, with a sigh.

Xander tapped his sightless eyes. "They say blind people get super senses, to compensate. Maybe I'll know, even when you two don't."

"They also say that blind people shouldn't use guns," said Willow.

"Except in Texas and Michigan!" Xander replied. He flashed Willow a grin. "And considering, after the apocalypse, there's no California or United States anymore… I've decided that counts."

The elevator came to a stop.

"Brace yourselves," Seo warned the others.

As the doors pinged open.

The three leapt out — or, at least, two of them did — ready to face whatever lay inside with every bit of bravery and determination they could face.

Instead… they found two locked up versions… of Buffy.

"No, Seo, it's a trap!" shouted one.

"The Crystallizer!" shouted the other, pointing. "It's blinking! There's stuff going on, Seo! Stuff that's bigger than you and me! Except she—"

"Stop talking like you're me!" shouted the first, irritated. "Geeze. Do you really think she's falling for that? I mean…" Trailed off. Noticing Willow and Xander. "Oh, my God!"

"Oh, God! Willow?" said the second. "Xander? What happened to you?"

Willow rolled her wheelchair out.

Then stopped.

"Oh," said Willow. "I… see."

And Xander faltered, his hand inside his pocket, pulling out his gun. "Uh… little help, here," he said. "Anyone want to tell me which I shoot?"

Seo looked between the two. Faltering.

"Look, you guys, be careful!" said the second Buffy. Pointing at the other one. "She's a nutcase. You've got no idea what she'd be willing to sacrifice to—"

"Shut up!" snapped the first Buffy. "She's my daughter! You're just the nutcase trying to… to… I don't know! Impersonate me!"

"Oh, yeah, that'll convince her for sure, Elizabeth," said the second Buffy, rolling her eyes. "Yell a whole bunch and get really angry. Because that's totally what I do."

"Seo, Willow, Xander," said the first Buffy. "We've got to get out of here. Like, right now. There's no time! That Crystallizer… it's projecting through the link! Into both worlds! Stuff's being manipulated and every second we delay, things'll get worse and worse."

"She's crazy, but she's right," said the second Buffy. "That Crystallizer is bad with a capital B. The longer that link's open, the more chance there is that stuff from the Time War will spill out into our world."

" _Your_ world?!" shouted the first Buffy. "You liar!"

" _I'm_ the liar?!" shouted the second.

Willow's face was stony. As she examined the two, from her wheelchair. The two different identical faces, sporting the same identical bruises, scratches, and injuries.

Seo walked forwards. Hesitantly. "You… both know who I am?"

"I'm a Line Hopper, and so is she," said the second Buffy. Pointed at the first Buffy. "She used the Crystallizer to steal my memories. Including those of you."

"Don't trust her, Seo," said the first Buffy. "She's gonna use my memories against you. To trick you. _I'm_ the real Buffy!"

The second Buffy just gave a small laugh. "Pretty defensive, huh, Elizabeth?" She looked out at Seo, fondly. "I told you. Seo will know. She's smarter than you think."

"No, I told you that!" shouted the first Buffy. "She's my daughter!"

"She's _my_ daughter!" snapped the second.

Xander faltered. "It's… the one on the left," he said, pointing his gun at the first Buffy. "That's Elizabeth. Has to be. The other one's nice, while this one's… just… defensive and shouty."

The first Buffy raised her hands.

"Xander, please," said the first Buffy. "In my world, you're my friend. Whatever she's done to you… you can't end it with violence."

"Like I said to Willow, back when she was all with the goth-girl evil-magic," said the second Buffy, "no one has a license to kill. Humans have laws and rules that deal with this kind of thing. We can't just throw that away for—"

"Laws and rules that Elizabeth destroyed," Xander said, his voice icy. "When she destroyed the world."

Seo raced out, and grabbed Xander back.

Hesitating, as she looked between the two identical versions of her mom.

"Come on, Seo, you know it's me!" said the first Buffy. "Tell him!"

"Yeah, and the more you try to shout at her, the more she knows it's not you," said the second Buffy. With a grin at Seo. "Seo. Never doubted her. Never will."

Seo recognized the words.

Surely… only Mom would remember… except no. No, Elizabeth was using something to read Mom's memories. Elizabeth would know, too.

"I… don't…" Seo began. Then realized… "Slayer strength! Only one of you will have that!"

"Yeah, and these bruises and things are because I walked into a door," the second Buffy said, pointing. "We're Line Hoppers, Seo. Like two sides of a sheet of paper. Elizabeth's tearing through that paper so we'll blend together, and you'll take her home instead of me."

"She brained me with an iron bar," the first Buffy supplied. "Then went on this evil villain rant about how she's more important than the universe."

"Yeah, you did," said the second Buffy. "Total Big Bad stuff."

"I… I don't…" Seo stammered.

Willow cleared her throat. "Let me handle this," she said. Wheeling herself out in front of the two. Pausing, in between them, her eyes darting between the two different copies. Then, in that way she always did, said, "Hello, Elizabeth."

The two both gave the same reaction Willow remembered from all her visits.

And a little start, at the name, as if not exactly used to it.

"This is you all over, huh?" said Willow. "Always pretending to be something you're not. Someone you're not." She paused, reflecting. "How'd you manage to get all the injuries to match up?"

Both Buffies began launching into a dizzying explanation of the Crystallizer. What it did. How it messed with Buffy and her timeline-screwed-uppedness. About the Powers that Be and the sealed-off timelines in the back room of the Axis.

Willow absorbed it, calmly.

Then gave a little laugh. "And suddenly, it all makes sense," Willow said. "You came prepared, huh, Elizabeth? That's your giveaway. Why it's so obvious which of you is—"

A screech.

And a demon leapt out from the ceiling, where it had concealed itself. Dove onto Willow, its jaws open, claws extended…

No one having a second to react, before the demon had severed Willow's head from her shoulders.

"Willow!" both Buffies screamed. Scrabbling at the bars, trying to bend them open, get out and help.

Seo raced over to the lab table, slammed down a button.

A shimmery force wall was thrown up over the front of each of the cells. Knocking both Buffies back against the far wall.

Seo wasn't letting them scramble themselves around. Confusing which one was which, so she couldn't choose even using the few clues she'd been given.

Not now.

Xander had already located the screech of the demon, and blasted it apart with his gun. Then raced over to Willow, his face twisted into pain. "Will," he said. Feeling around for her, grabbing up her body in his arms. "Willow!"

Seo went over to them. Her eyes sad.

"She's dead," Seo said. "Her head's… gone." She knelt down by Xander, a hand on his back. "I'm sorry."

A horrible, biting pain tore at Xander's face. "No…"

"She knew something," said Seo, looking back at the two Buffies. "She'd worked it out. And one of them… didn't want us to know the truth."

Xander squeezed his eyes shut. "She was the only person that I could trust," he whispered. "The only friend left in a dying world. And now… she's…"

He lay Willow's body down.

Then jumped to his feet, leaving the gun clattering onto the floor. "This is it," he decided. "Whatever game Elizabeth's playing, whatever she's trying to do with our lives, I don't care anymore." He reached into his jacket pocket.

And brought out a small, circular device.

Both of the Buffies recognized it. Their eyes going wide.

"A blanking bomb," said Xander. "From UNIT. Whatever you're planning, Elizabeth, this'll wipe it out. Wipe everything out, within a five mile radius." He primed the device, then threw it out the window. Out of reach. "Timer's counting down."

Seo stared at him. "You can't…!"

"Get your mom," said Xander, turning on Seo, "and get out." His rage was seething beneath the surface. "There's nothing left for me, anymore. No Willow. No world. No friends."

"Don't do this," Seo pleaded.

"It's too late," said Xander. "You've got a minute left. Not enough time to find and diffuse it. So move fast."

Seo swallowed, hard.

Then turned back to the two Buffies.

"Seo, you know it's me!" shouted the first Buffy. "It's Mom. You'd recognize your mom anywhere, right?"

"Just look into my eyes," the second Buffy pleaded. "You'll know. You'll see it."

Seo squeezed her eyes shut. "Quiet!" she shouted.

They both fell quiet.

Seo took a deep breath. Opened her eyes, examining both of them. "One of you was willing to destroy the world," she said, "murder Willow, and risk tearing apart the multiverse… just to get out of this Time Lock."

"Her!" both shouted, pointing at the other one.

"And that means if I choose either of you," Seo interrupted, "there's a fifty percent chance I'll introduce someone like that to _my_ universe. The timeline I love. With the friends and family I adore." She shook her head. "I can't do that. I can't take the risk."

The Buffies stared.

"So… I'm sorry, Mom," Seo said, turning to the far wall, with the crack that linked her reality to this one. "But I can't take you back. I can't risk everyone on Earth for the sake of one person."

"What?" shouted the first Buffy. Slamming her hands on the bars. "Seo! What are you talking about?! It's me, and Xander's just set off a bomb! You'd never leave…!"

The second Buffy just gave Seo a sad smile. "It's okay," she said. "I understand. I forgive you."

Seo stopped.

A grin on her face.

"Now I know for sure," Seo said. Releasing the force field across the cells, and using her strength to bend open the iron bars. "Mom."

The first Buffy was livid. "No!" she screamed. "Seo! Stop!" She began scrambling at her own bars, trying to pull them apart. "She's tricking you! Can't you see…?!"

"She can see, that's the point," said the second Buffy, taking Seo's hand in her own. "I told you she was too smart for you, Elizabeth." She smiled down at her child. "Let's go home."

Seo smiled back at her Mom.

And reopened the portal.

"No!" screamed the other one, tearing at the bars of her prison, and lunging for Xander's dropped gun on the floor. "I won't let you get away with this! Never!"

The Crystallizer flashed.

And beside Seo, Mom cried out, stumbling with the pain of a headache, hand still clutching Seo's. As the shot from Xander's gun slammed right into Seo's back, glancing off her shoulder.

Seo tried to stifle a cry.

Xander rushed the imposter-Buffy, who was still screaming and trying to shoot. "I'll kill you for this!" she shouted. "Kill you dead! You can't…!"

Xander managed to tackle her to the floor, tossing the gun out of her grasp. "Seo, get your mom and get out of here," he said.

"Xander, I can't leave you—" Seo began.

Her mom grabbed her more firmly by the wrist. "He's right," she told Seo. "That bomb's going to go off any second. We have to get away."

Seo tried to struggle, but her shoulder was searing with pain, where she'd been struck.

"Thanks, Xander," said Mom, as she led Seo through the portal. "Thanks for everything."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, something really cool just happened to me. I was emailing someone to list my mom's wine company on a search engine... and they said, "Hey, are you the person who writes those Buffy/Doctor Who fanfics?" I was really shocked, and really flattered! I had no idea my fame had gone that far!
> 
> So thank you! To you and all my fans!
> 
> It was a welcome niceness in my life, too, because someone I knew died today. I didn't know them well but... it's just really bothering me right now. I'm really kind of upset about it.
> 
> Anyways.
> 
> Enjoy!

In the crater above Sunnydale, the portal shimmered.

Then opened.

"Hope this works," said Dawn, spinning the propeller and racing back, jumping into the center of the thing. Listening to the motor engage, as the makeshift airplane she'd cobbled together — probably half through sheer dumb luck — raced across the desert-scape, and then soared into the air.

Dawn almost falling off, as she struggled to hang on to the canvas and the frame, as it lifted up.

"Now I know why planes have seatbelts and cockpits and stuff," Dawn gritted. But managed to keep her balance. Directing the plane towards the opening portal. "Come on. The Wright Brothers could do it! You can, too! Go Team Dawn!"

There Buffy and Seo were.

Just inside the portal, walking through, their two silhouettes looming through the light behind them.

The Masters, below, looked up at the sound of Dawn's makeshift airplane.

But they all seemed pretty distracted by… something else. Something Dawn didn't really care about, at the moment. Considering she was the only thing saving her sister and niece from a horrible drop to their deaths.

She swooped in, just as their images emerged through the portal. Just as they stepped out into midair, and screamed, as they both fell…

Then Buffy grabbed the wing of the plane, yanking Seo by the arm, so she didn't fall, as well.

"It's… but that's…!" Seo squeaked, pointing down at the ground below them. "They're…!"

"Six billion copies of the Master?" said Dawn. "Yeah, I noticed! We'll deal with them, later."

"The Master?" said Buffy, looking up. "Wait, him, again? I thought he was dead!"

Dawn redirected the plane, spiraling it through the air. "Yeah, well, so were you!" she retorted. "Looks like the whole death thing didn't stop either of you."

Seo's breath began to come faster, more panicked, as the Masters on the ground came more and more in focus.

"Seo, close the link!" shouted Buffy. "We'll deal with the Master, later! But we've got a blanking bomb and a Crystallizer on the other side — and that'll spill over here, unless you shut down the portal!"

"Not to mention a very pissed off Elizabeth!" Dawn called, nodding at the portal.

Looked like another silhouette was trying to come through. Trying to emerge.

Seo shut her eyes. Poured all her strength into taking away the little control she'd given to Dawn, using it to control and seal away the portal. Sever the link to that reality… entirely… so that…

Seo cried out.

"It's okay!" said Dawn. "You did it!" Nodding at the sky. "The link's gone! The portal's closed. See?"

"No," said Seo. Feeling something tearing at her, pulling her inside out and back again. "No, they redirected the focus of the link. It's searing through me, and I can't stop it! I can't close it!"

Buffy's eyes went wide. "The Crystallizer… was controlling something…"

"What?" said Dawn.

Buffy grew frantic. "Dawn, land this thing, now," she said. "This instant. Stuff's about to get really bad, really fast!"

"But there's the Master down there!" Dawn insisted.

"Just do it!" Buffy screamed.

Which was when the whole planet shook. And the sky seemed to tear open, another planet slowly fading into existence, just above them. An orange planet, huge and monstrous, in the sky.

Dawn didn't land so much as crash the plane into the ground.

The passengers thrown from its frame and tossed into the sand. Beside some of the Master copies, who'd frozen, again.

Their heads shaking.

"Seo?" Dawn called. Scrambled over, grabbing Seo up off the ground. "Seo! What the hell is…?!"

"What the…?" came an English-accented voice.

Dawn looked up.

To find… Ace was back. Not Harold Saxon. Just Ace, the human being, morphed back after being the Master. In fact, all the others were back to normal, too. Back to being confused Knights of Byzantium, mostly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Seo?" said Ace.

"I can't close the link!" Seo breathed. Trying, struggling. "It's… everything I can do… to hold it stable. Make sure… it doesn't rip apart the universe. But… I can't… it won't let me close…"

"So the Time War's getting out?" Dawn said.

Oh, God.

Save Buffy — and get a massive war with Daleks and crazy Time Lords everywhere. Was the apocalypse going to happen every time they brought Buffy back?

Ace looked up, into the sky.

Her breath catching in her throat. "No. That's… that's impossible."

"What's impossible?" said Dawn, looking up. "Is the portal…?"

She stopped. As she finally noticed the gigantic orange planet, getting ever closer.

Her jaw fell open.

"Okay, I'm guessing that's bad," said Dawn.

Ace raced around. "Bike!" she shouted. "Where's my bike? I've got to get up there. Get back. Rescue the Professor and all the others. They need me!"

"Uh… yeah," said Dawn, with a wince. "About your bike…"

Seo writhed, her face growing paler and paler.

Dawn could almost see the strength being sapped from her, with every passing second. As the link remained open… and was killing her.

"The link!" shouted the Knights of Byzantium, pointing at the sky. "The link has been opened. Time ends!"

"Seo, close it!" Dawn urged. "Please! Before they start turning on us!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Seo snapped, her voice barely more than a whisper. "They're… trying to get out. Used us both… to let him establish… the focus…" She writhed again. "It hurts, Aunt Dawn! It hurts!"

"The Key, and the Beast!" shouted one of the Knights of Byzantium. His sword glinting in the morning light. "Kill them, and the planet will be banished. Back to where it came from!"

"Kill us, and anything trying to get through will!" Dawn shouted back. "Seo's trying to keep it out, you jerks!"

But the Knights weren't about to listen.

Instead, they ran forwards, swords drawn, ready to strike out.

And instead, found themselves face-to-face with Buffy Summers. Blocking their blows expertly, using a metal pipe from the wreckage of the crashed airplane.

Ace stared. "You!"

"I'm not Elizabeth!" shouted Buffy, back, continuing to fight off the knights. "Now, little help over here!"

Ace grabbed up another pipe from the wreckage, and started in, herself. "Hey, metal-face!" she shouted. "Ever beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat? Cuz this…" Whapping him in the side, "is just the same!"

Seo gave a sudden sigh of relief.

"It's done," she said. Barely able to speak, anymore. "The link's been severed. I… can close it. Send everything back where it belongs."

"Then use my energy to do that!" Dawn urged. "I'm the Key, too! And you're looking pretty awful, right now."

Seo shot her a stubborn glare. "Quit…" she panted, "bossing… me… around…"

Then passed out, completely.

As the planet disappeared from the sky.

And the link snapped shut.

"Found it!" shouted Ace, over by the wreckage, again. Tore off the top, then threw the canister, far as she could, into the middle of the swarming Knights of Byzantium. "Better run, if you don't want your heads blown off!"

The Knights looked around themselves.

Then scattered.

Just before the explosion hit.

"Come on!" Buffy shouted at them, grabbing up Seo into her arms. "Back to the Sunnydale house! Let's go!"

They ran.

Ace only taking a second to linger, look over her shoulder. At the planet disappearing from sight, sucked back into a war she couldn't enter.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Ace said. "I should have been there! I should have…"

She shook her head.

Then turned away. Putting her past behind her.

And running off, to help out her new friends. And figure out how to get back her bike.


	11. Chapter 11

It wasn't the weirdest Christmas ever.

Especially not considering all the Sunnydale years, when weirdness and demon attacks were pretty standard at every time of the year. Or the recent Christmas day craziness, where aliens seemed to always wind up swarming over London on exactly December 25th, like they had an alarm clock or something.

But it was definitely weird.

"So… you're not the same person I knew," Ace double checked, looking Buffy over. "Even though you look and sound exactly like her."

"That's right," Buffy confirmed. "I'm Buffy. Dawn's sister."

Ace nodded, slowly. "Which means… you're not about to blow up at us and go on about the Professor being evil and deserving to die," Ace said. "Which is good." She crossed her arms. "Because he might be an alien git who's always got a master plan stashed away — but he's still the Professor."

"Hey, I'm with you!" Buffy said, gesturing at Ace. "Doctor all the way!"

Ace still seemed a little wary.

But stayed with Dawn, as they got together all the pieces of the airplane. And began to reassemble them back into a bike.

"Mind you, I'll never get it to travel through time or space, again," Ace sighed, trying to reassemble the thing. "Friend of mine put that in, back on Gallifrey. I never knew how it worked."

"I bet Seo could fix it for you," Dawn offered. "You know, when she gets better."

Buffy was off with Seo. In the back room. Just spending some mother-daughter alone time, while Ace and Dawn worked on motorcycles, in the front.

Seo was still drained of energy. Enough so that she couldn't even walk on her own.

Dawn really hoped she was okay.

Ace held up an out-of-shape piece of metal. "Well, if we ever want it to act like a bike, again," she said, "we need to find another one of these. It must have fallen away from the rest of the wreckage, when you crashed."

"I didn't see anything. Maybe it was buried in the sand." Dawn's mind raced. "We could use, like, a magnet! Pick up anything metal we find. Just in case there are other missing parts, too."

Ace grinned. "Not bad, Key-Girl," she said. Adjusted her jacket, getting up. "Think your sister and blondie'll be all right, here, on their own?"

"They'll be fine," Dawn said, shrugging on her own coat, and hurrying to the door. "Just pop your head in, let them know what's happening, and let's get going! We've got bike stuff to do!"

* * *

Buffy and Seo listened, as Ace and Dawn left.

Seo's ship nestled away in a corner of the room, with Seo herself tucked up in her bed, nice and tight, looking at her wonderful Mommy. Her wonderful, no-longer-sick, no-longer-threatened Mommy. Who sat just beside her, on the bed, stroking Seo's hair. A gentle smile on her face.

"Don't leave ever again," Seo said.

"I won't," said Mom. "My brave, brave Seo. Splitting open universes to get me back. Testing the fabric of reality for your mom." She stood up, grabbing up another pillow, fluffing it in her hands. "My child." Then, turning on Seo, " _His_ child."

And slammed the pillow down across Seo's face.

Seo struggled to breathe. Struggled to move, beneath the too-tight covers. But the person holding the pillow sat down hard on her, making any struggle impossible.

"It was so easy," said Mom's voice. Now icy and cold. "I just told you what you were expecting to hear. 'I forgive you.' Like anyone would really be that cheesy!"

Seo thrashed.

Tried to scream.

Tried to call out, get free.

Managed only to get a leg free, and with a vicious kick that sapped up all her remaining strength, shoved Elizabeth off of her.

The pillow falling to the floor.

Seo taking in deep lungfuls of air.

"Oh, you little…!" hissed Elizabeth.

She grabbed Seo up by the leg, and — in a burst of her remaining Slayer strength — snapped the bone.

Seo cried out.

"Shh," said Elizabeth, grabbing her up. "Poor little baby. I don't want to kill you. Not really. But you're smart — like your mom said you were. It was only a matter of time… before you found out your mistake. Sent me back." She put her hands around Seo's throat. "And I'm not going back. Not for anything."

Seo screamed, loud as she could.

Loud enough.

The door burst open.

Both Ace and Dawn rushed into the room, leveling weapons at the person who looked exactly like Buffy.

"Figured it was you, toad-face," said Ace, glaring at Elizabeth. "You didn't think twice when I called the Doctor, 'the Professor'. And you knew I'd recognized you, the moment I saw you." Nodding at Dawn. "From her stories, her sister wouldn't have."

Elizabeth was up in a second. Held Seo out in front of her, like a shield.

"One step closer, and she dies," said Elizabeth. "And I'd be happy to kill her. More than happy."

"You… killed Mom," Seo breathed.

"Uh, no, _you_ killed your mom," Elizabeth countered. "And I knew you would. It wasn't a fifty-fifty chance — it was a guarantee." She laughed, a little. "Willow figured it out. She knew I'd be the one prepared for the Crystallizer's change. That I'd know exactly how to act to make me look like her. Exactly which characteristics to adapt, and which to chuck out the window."

"While the real Buffy," Ace continued, "would be unprepared. Floundering and desperate. Pleading and protesting and trying too hard."

"Which would just make _me_ seem more genuine," said Elizabeth. She used her free hand to poke Seo in the shoulder, the pain searing through Seo in a flash of utter agony. "Your mom was pretty upset. She tried to shoot me. Thanks for being my shield, then and now."

As Seo remembered…

The way Elizabeth had stumbled, as they entered the portal. Yanking on Seo's hand, pulling Seo sideways. Dragging her… directly into the way of the shot.

"So," said Elizabeth. "You couldn't tell your mom from me. And killed her. On Christmas! How's that for a Christmas present?" Her grin lighting up her face, her eyes glowing and manic. "I just wish you could see what I'm gonna do, now that I'm free. Too bad you have to die, first."

Dawn stared at Seo.

Looking almost… betrayed.

"How could you not have known?" Dawn said. The raw, bitter pain bleeding across her face. "How could you leave Buffy…?!"

Ace put a hand on Dawn's shoulder.

Her eyes and weapon trained on Elizabeth.

"Oh, come on, Ace," said Elizabeth. "I've got to kill her. She's like _him_." Her voice lowered. "The guy who jerked your life around. Failed you, over and over again. Brought you into master plans that led to you losing the only people you liked or trusted."

Ace didn't answer.

"I saw how you looked at Gallifrey," said Elizabeth. "You were there, huh? When the war broke out. You fought. You wanted to keep fighting."

"I… got sucked out of the war," Ace muttered. "Didn't mean to. Never knew what had happened."

"Just suddenly woke up, and found out that the Doctor had done it again," Elizabeth guessed. "Killed all your friends on Gallifrey. Murdered everyone on the planet's surface, leaving you the only survivor."

Ace's face burned with fury. "You… miserable…!"

Elizabeth seemed amused.

"You don't know what it's like!" Ace said. "Don't you dare…!"

"I always dare," said Elizabeth. "So go on! Shoot me, and the baby grows up to become the murderer. Another copy of _him_. Another Doctor running around, manipulating and conniving and destroying people's lives."

Dawn's eyes kept boring into Seo.

More and more with every word Elizabeth spoke.

As if to say, "Really? Really?! You thought _this_ was Buffy!"

Ace stepped forwards. "Yeah, he can be a git," she admitted, with a sigh. "I said that. Won't take it back." She lowered the gun, put it down. Then held out her hands, for Seo. "But you don't shoot the kid for her dad's crimes. So hand her over."

Elizabeth didn't.

Instead, her hands tightened around Seo's neck.

"I don't think so," Elizabeth said, her hands getting ready for their final twist and snap, to kill Seo. "Told you. I'm not going back. Not ever."

Seo knew she had only one chance. Only just barely had enough strength to make this work.

Just as Elizabeth got ready to make it final — to really kill her — to really snap her neck and race out the door, to freedom… Seo twisted in her grip.

And bit down, hard, on her hand.

Elizabeth shrieked, dropping Seo to the ground, in a heap. Ace lunged for her gun, giving off a shot, but Elizabeth had ducked behind Seo's ship, and the shot bounced off the outside.

"Catch me if you can!" called Elizabeth, cracking open a window behind the ship.

Ace surged forwards, but Elizabeth had already slipped out.

And was running away, through the dark night. Keeping to shadows, where the others couldn't see her.

Ace swore. "We gotta get after her," she said to Dawn, grabbing a torch and jumping out the window. "She destroyed one world, already. Not going to see her destroy another!"

Dawn lingered, just a second longer.

Seo looking up at her, from the floor. Seeing every ounce of fury and rage on her face.

As she knew… they were both remembering that silhouette, in the portal. The one they hadn't let through. The one Seo had left to burn to death in a fiery explosion.

"I'm sorry," Seo pleaded, with Dawn. "I didn't know. Really!"

The words seemed to make Dawn even angrier. "I can't deal with this," she hissed. Her whole body shaking with rage, as she hurried after Ace. "You killed my sister, Seo. I can't… talk to you, right now."

Then she left.

Aunt Dawn — the only family Seo still had, on Earth. The only family that had survived this Christmas. Dawn. And she'd never forgive Seo. Couldn't. Hated her for… for…

Seo looked back at her ship.

Struggled, on hands and knees, towards it.

* * *

Ace swore, under her breath.

Swore in words that Dawn didn't even know. Alien words from alien worlds Dawn had never been to, and probably never would.

"She's gone," said Ace. Shining the torch around. "Disappeared! And I was so close." She turned back to Dawn. "You know the Doctor?"

Dawn nodded.

"Well, there's one way she's right about him," said Ace, turning back to the house. "When the Professor makes mistakes… he makes big mistakes." Her jaw was set, her voice icy. "And he made a mistake the day he kept her alive."

"Big mistakes," said Dawn. "Like father, like daughter."

Ace paused. Then swung back. "Hey, go easy on the munchkin," she said. "Elizabeth's pretty tricky. Managed to fool the Professor for years."

Dawn couldn't get the image of that silhouette, trying to come through, out of her mind.

The last glimpse she'd ever get of her sister.

"And maybe… maybe you were both right," said Ace. "Sending back the war. Closing the link. Even if I wanted to go back and show those pepper pots a thing or two." She clapped Dawn on the back. "Come on. Let's regroup. Then make sure that Elizabeth gets what's coming to her."

Dawn gave a long, irritated sigh.

"Yeah," she decided. "I guess… you're right. After all, Seo will want to help."

Except… when they got back to the house… they found no Seo. No black glass pillar, in the room. As if they'd both just vanished, completely.

Dawn stared.

Suddenly feeling a horrible kind of guilt crawling through her.

"Seo's… gone," said Dawn. "She just… left."

Left without waiting for Dawn to cool down. Left without waiting for the apologies and the hugs and the tears. Just… gone.

Disappeared from Dawn's life, as if she'd never existed at all.

"You coming?" shouted Ace, from the next room over.

Dawn turned around. Remembering, in 2004, first meeting Ace and hearing that — in her own future — they'd be hanging out together. Having adventures. Saving the world with a gang of their own, and no… no Buffy… around to…

Dawn had been happy about it, back then.

Now, she just felt empty.

No Buffy.

No Seo.

Because Buffy was dead. And Seo had killed her.

"Yeah," said Dawn. Putting on a brave face. "Yeah, I'm… coming."

And she stepped forwards. To Ace. The future she'd known was waiting for her.

Time to meet her destiny.

* * *

Seo didn't know how many days — or was it weeks? — she lay on the floor of her ship, as it drifted through the vortex.

Unable to move.

Unable to heal herself properly.

Unable to stop her mind from replaying the scene over and over again. Her choice. Her failure. And that silhouette, just before she'd sealed the breach and sentenced… her own…

Seo had no energy left to do anything but break down into violent, passionate sobs.

Those sobs were the only things she had left.


	12. Epilogue

_Earlier…_

Buffy knew, the moment Seo made the wrong choice and released Elizabeth, what would happen. Could see it in the glint of Elizabeth's eyes. The slight coldness in her stance.

Elizabeth would escape this reality.

Then snap Seo's neck, and run away laughing.

"No!" screamed Buffy, using her Slayer-strength to tearing apart the bars of her prison. She grabbed up Xander's dropped gun. Knew killing humans was wrong, but this was her child. Her little girl! And Buffy wasn't going to let her die. "I won't let you get away with this! Never!"

And shot at Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth was smart. Had noticed, out of the corner of her eye. Dragged Seo into the way of the shot, then acted all horrified and upset, as if she couldn't believe it.

And Buffy became desperate.

Tried to lunge for the monster who was going to kill her child, wanting to throttle her for shoving Seo into harm's way just to save her own neck, wanting to tear this other-her apart with her bare hands for daring to…!

Xander plummeted into her.

Dragging her down to the floor.

Shouting at Seo to get out of there. Shouting at Seo to run.

And Elizabeth didn't protest at leaving Xander behind — not for a minute. Just swept up Seo and led her off. Buffy shouting at them, the whole time, insisting that Seo was wrong, she was Buffy, and don't do this, don't go with that maniac!

But they couldn't hear her, anymore.

Buffy managed to roll around, repositioning herself so that Xander was the one at a disadvantage. "Gotta get out of here before that bomb," she said. Jumping to her feet. "The portal's still here, Xander. Still open! We can make it! Follow them through!"

Xander lunged at her, again, and Buffy only just had time to grab him before he attacked.

"I won't let you!" he shouted. "You killed Willow! You…!"

" _She_ killed Willow!" Buffy shouted back. "Xander, you're one of my best friends. If that'd been me, I'd have brought you with me! Saved you, too! _She_ took my daughter and left you to die!"

Xander hesitated.

Buffy immediately feeling more her old self, now that Elizabeth was gone.

"We're getting out of here," said Buffy, dragging him with her. "Before that bomb makes us go all vaporizy. Both of us!"

They stepped into the portal.

As the far end of it began to close. The mouth beginning to snap shut, all daylight on the other side cut off, in a second.

"Seo, wait!" Buffy shouted, hoping someone would hear. "It's me! Seo! You got the wrong one!"

But she never heard.

Because the portal snapped shut, plunging them into blackness.

"Portal's closed," said Buffy, looking around herself. At the black tunnel. "But… not the link. Or this whole thing would have collapsed and we'd have been squeezed out of existence and killed, immediately."

"You're really _not_ her, are you?" said Xander.

"I told you I'm not!" said Buffy, darting to the side, dragging him after her. "And if you think I'm letting that maniac use my kid as an emergency exit before killing her, you've got another thing coming. There's a link open, and I'm finding where it ends. Getting back to Earth. No matter what, I'm saving my…!"

Then the burst of an explosion rippled through the air.

And Buffy knew she had only one option left.

"Plan B!" Buffy shouted.

She kicked open one side of the portal, exposing a gateway to somewhere else. Some other dimension, other world, other reality. She jumped through it, with Xander. Slamming it shut behind herself and Xander, just as the explosion spread through the area where they'd been standing.

For a few moments, they just stood together.

Catching their breath.

"You okay?" said Buffy.

Xander wheezed. "Just… doing my best impression… of a nerd who needs an inhaler," he said. "You go ahead."

Buffy beamed. "That's the Xander I know!" She dropped his hand, letting him rest. As she stepped forwards. "So. We're not in the right universe. Or reality. Or dimension. Or anything. Let's see where we are, and how we can get back to—"

Xander screamed.

Buffy spun around, just in time to see Xander impaled by a demon's blade.

The blood pouring out of him, then vaporizing into the air. The last words falling from his lips… her name. Like a prayer for salvation.

Then, he died.

The demon withdrew his sword. Then turned to face Buffy, full-on.

And Buffy realized… she knew exactly who the demon was.

"This," said the demon Acathla, "is my domain." He grinned at her, through jagged teeth. "Welcome to Hell, Buffy Summers. I've heard so much about you."

* * *

_The End._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here ends Season 3!
> 
> Elizabeth's out wreaking havoc on Earth, Dawn and Ace are chasing her, Seo has run away into outer space, and Buffy's stuck in Acathla's hell dimension. I love the way my brain works!
> 
> Yep, I know, the season ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. But the good news is... I'm almost done writing the next season! So... hurray?
> 
> (Please don't kill me! I'm working two jobs, and I'm only a few stories off!)
> 
> Anyways. I've got the first story of the next season done and dusted. So I'll post that. You'll all love that story; I think it's one of the best stories I've written here.
> 
> It's called "One Word".
> 
> Summary: Clara wasn't the first to take the Doctor's One Word test — just the first to pass it. Here's the story of someone who failed.
> 
> So look forward to that. And... you'll get a preview of the next season!
> 
> (In case you felt like the Doctor was lacking in this season, next season has a lot more Doctor stories! "One Word" (11th), "Irkoli" (7th), "We Must Survive" (11th), An unnamed story with the 10th Doctor and Faith, "Redemption" (10th), "Tartarus Gate" (11th), and "Reunion" (11th).)


	13. Coming soon... Season 4!

(Slight warning. Season 4 has a lot more Jack in it, so... it's a little more PG-13 than my previous seasons. But honestly, with Jack, how could it not be?)

**Coming soon...**

* * *

"—of course, on an existential level," Seo explained, in answer to Vastra's first question, "perhaps we're _all_ trying to work out why we're here. What's our purpose? What are we hoping to achieve—?"

"One word," Jenny Flint cut in. Again.

"Not fifty," Vastra added. "Not a thousand. Just _one_."

Vastra raised up her index finger as the number "one", to make the point.

Seo thought a moment. Then, on her own hand, counted the words as she said, "That's rubbish."

She revealed her two fingers to Vastra.

To make _her_ point.

— "One Word"

* * *

"Oh, you are in so much trouble when I find you, Seo!" the Doctor shouted, racing outside in his shirtsleeves. "Everything I've done to the Daleks will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you've harmed my bow tie! Mark my words!"

— "One Word"

* * *

"Strax really liked my chocolate," Seo added. She put an arm around Strax — who, next to her, didn't look all that short, anymore. "And I really like all his explosives."

The Doctor rolled back to his feet. "If you ever meet Ace," he muttered. "The universe is doomed."

"I _have_ met Ace!"

—"One Word"

* * *

"I've had enough." Acathla turned to his demon minions. "Kill her."

"I can give you the Earth," Buffy offered, very calmly.

— "Acathla"

* * *

"1.2 million," Jack repeated. "I'm gonna be that, someday."

It was a depressing thought.

Realizing he still had millions… billions… of years of this.

Running away. Disappointing people. Losing everyone. Causing the deaths of the people he loved.

"Course you are, sir," said the barman.

"Hey, I'm a hundred and fifty, you know," said Jack. "And lookin' good on it." Gave a tired smile. "By some standards, I'm two thousand, one hundred and fifty. But I spent most of that time buried in the ground beneath Cardiff."

"Most of the statue's time was spent buried in the ground of the first moon of Ergola," said the barman. "Sounds like you two would get along famously."

Jack laughed. "Bet we would." He turned around, raising his glass to the statue, in a toast. "Well, statue! Here's to…"

His laughter stopped.

His breath choked in his throat.

And the glass slipped out of his hand, shattering against the floor.

— "Irkoli"

* * *

"So you're David Walter Korjensky III?" Jack looked Dave up and down, approvingly. "Heard a lot about you, but I never thought you'd be a hottie." He grinned. "She's definitely got good taste."

"You know Seo?" Dave pressed. Then, his heart racing, added, "You two aren't…?"

"No," Jack put in, quickly. "Oh, no. Her father would kill me." He paused. "And if you think you're a good-looking hero, you should meet _him_. Every face is better than the last!"

— "Perfect World"

* * *

"I was right to do what I did," Dave said, sternly. "Those aliens deserved to die."

Seo spun around on her chair. "And that's still how you see the universe, isn't it?" she hissed. "Even after the Autons and Professor Trinch and all those humans betraying you, after you escaped that Rechortia — you'd still rather gun down an alien like me than gun down a human being."

Oh, great.

Somehow, even when they were talking about normal things like alien oppressors or slavery or planets plagued by tyranny — Seo could always twist it into some critique of their relationship.

"Not everything I do is always about you," Dave told her. "Believe it or not, when I gunning down those alien bastards to stop them killing innocent humans — I wasn't asking myself what you'd think!"

"Obviously not," Seo muttered, eyes narrowing on him.

— "Perfect World"

* * *

Jack chuckled, patting Oliver. "Mischievous little kid."

"Mischievous little time machine!" Seo retorted, smashing the console with the heel of her shoe. "And naughty!" She leaned down, so her face was directly above the console. "You hear that, Oliver!" she shouted. "I said you were naughty! And I stand by it. Now _stop taking us to Massachusetts_!"

—"Un-Minority Report"

* * *

Jenny reached out to touch the dead body of Jack Harkness. Then winced back, as she felt a stinging sensation in her head. She shuddered.

"That's not right," Jenny said. "He's… dead."

Officer Hopper nodded, slowly. "Bravo, investigator."

— "Un-Minority Report"

* * *

"You have selected a classic movie," the vending machine chirruped. "Please be advised that classic movies were not originally intended for the viewing formats available. Full Sensory Recall for this movie may be purchased for an additional 500 credits."

The display options whizzed up in front of Jenny.

Dreamscape viewing.

Concentrated packet download.

Memory alteration insertion.

Hallucinogenic projection.

Jenny made a face. Suddenly realizing that this machine was vending movies in pill format, not vending movies in any format she'd actually want to watch.

— "Un-Minority Report"

* * *

The Doctor trailed off.

As he noticed Jack analyzing the TARDIS.

"Ah, yes," the Doctor added. "I redecorated."

"I can tell." Jack looked around. Gave a whistle and a grin. "Like it. Modern. Sleek. Sexy."

The Doctor pat his ship, fondly. "She's a marvel, isn't she?"

Jack winked at the Doctor. "Wasn't talking about the ship, Doctor."

— "We Must Survive"

* * *

The Doctor felt himself fuming. "Time Lord calling Evil Hell Goddess!" he shouted, rounding on her and leaning down right into her face. He shoved the sonic just in front of her nose. "Come on out, Glory! Face me!"

— "We Must Survive"

* * *

"Aw," said Glory, with a fake pout. She stroked the Cyberman's head with her free hand. "Sh, sh."

The Cyberman gave a metallic whimper, as — with her other hand — she yanked at a string of goo dangling out of its torn apart casing. Bypassing the destroyed emotional inhibitor.

"I know you're in pain," Glory said, patting the Cyber-helmet. "So am I. But mine counts more than yours." She leaned down. Whispered, where its ears should be, "What's it like in your head, right now?"

The Cyberman couldn't speak.

Could only scream, as she plunged her hands back into its insides, twisting and pulling things that caused it utter agony.

"Pain, horror, fear," Glory agreed. "All the usual! Boo-hoo, get over it!"

— "We Must Survive"

* * *

Seo leaned down, a little closer, to the reflecting pool.

Her nose almost touching the surface of the water.

"It's funny," Seo said. "But ever since arriving on this planet, whenever I pass a mirror… it's as if… there's a reflection."

Her nose accidentally poked the surface of the water, which rippled beneath her.

Like normal water.

"As if _I_ have a reflection," Seo muttered, pulling away.

— "Mirror Vision"

* * *

"At last count, there were 500 conference attendees, today," said Lord Nyin.

"Five…?!" Jack shook his head. Pointed outside. "Have you looked? There's no way there are five hundred people out there."

"Many are in lectures, I believe," said Lord Flascarf. "Or relaxing in chambers such as this, awaiting—"

"I've seen five hundred people, before," Jack interrupted. "Second moon of Orip, small place called Cavalo's — that's an orgy I'm not likely to forget." He glanced around himself. "Trust me, five hundred people doesn't ever look like this."

— "Mirror Vision"

* * *

"It's like he's throwing some kind of temper tantrum, or something," Seo said. Trying, in vain, to regain control of her ship. She yanked down a lever, and Oliver's engines gave a piercing scream, the ship jerking Seo and Jack around so that Seo could barely cling on.

"I'm starting to understand why the Doctor was so proud of his ship being 'old'!" Jack shouted, through the noise. "How long does it take for one of these TARDISes to grow out of the 'Terrible Twos'?"

Seo was too busy trying to calm down her ship to answer.

"Sh! Sh! It's okay — we don't have to go to ancient Egypt if you don't want!" she tried. Then, when that was getting nowhere, in a stern voice, "Oliver! You turn this ship right back to the time of the Pharaohs, or I'm giving you the time-out to end all time-outs!"

Oliver wasn't placated.

In fact, the scream of his engines got even louder and more needy.

"Maybe he's doing it to get attention!" Jack offered. "And if we ignore him, he'll get bored and stop!"

— "Redemption"

* * *

"Where am I?" Seo asked. " _When_ am I?" She tried to recall what they'd told her, just before she'd been transported here. "They'd linked up a time tunnel, connecting their own time to…"

Seo only just registered movement out of the corner of her eye.

Didn't have time to spin around.

Before she was tackled to the ground by a woman with dark skin and wild-looking hair. Her face heavily painted in ceremonial colors. Her eyes blazing with insanity and power.

"Slay," the woman hissed. Adjusting her hold on Seo, to strike the vital areas. "Slay!"

"…to the time of the first Slayer," Seo squeaked.

—"Redemption"

* * *

"No," Buffy sobbed. Rocking the body of her dead daughter. "Come back! Come back!"

"How far would you go to revenge them?" came a familiar voice.

Buffy looked back.

And found Yiprit, standing on his many legs, just behind her. The light reflecting against his face, making him look almost ghoulish.

"The Daleks are smart enough to open the Doorway," Yiprit said. "Open the Gate. After you get back to your universe, you could steal their time technology. Go back and undo all of this."

"No," Buffy said, because she knew she was supposed to say it. Because changing history was bad and that made sense if you didn't think about it too hard.

"Why not?" Yiprit crept forwards. His eye fixed on Seo. "She almost tore apart the universe, to get you back. She'd do it again. Wouldn't _you_ do the same thing for _her_?"

— "Invasion of Hell, Part IV: the Doorway"

* * *

"Do you care when you step on an ant?" said the Genie. "Or squish a spider? Look, I'll admit — some of you lesser beings have your plus points. Your friend, Jack, for instance… now _there's_ someone who can show a girl a good time!"

Seo looked at the Genie's messed up hair and clothes.

And Seo buried her face in her hands.

"You slept with Jack," she muttered. "I really didn't want to know that."

— "A Single Act of Kindness"

* * *

Seo stooped down by Jack. "Then, of course, there's the obvious thing you've overlooked," Seo continued telling the Genie, while putting her free hand on Jack's shoulder. "Maybe, if you hadn't been so absorbed trying to kill or manipulate everyone nearby, you'd have taken the time to actually _look_ at us lesser beings and see…"

Jack jerked upright.

Gasping back to life.

"…that Jack can't actually die," Seo finished. Helping Jack to his feet. "How are you feeling?"

— "A Single Act of Kindness"

* * *

"Come in, Summers," the red-horned demon requested. Gesturing inside. "We have been awaiting you."

Buffy stayed her ground.

"Details, first," Buffy demanded. "You can't open the Gate, right?"

The red-horned demon shook his head. "But we _can_ let you save your friends," he told her. "Despite your being stuck outside the universe."

"How?" Buffy demanded.

"By playing our game!" the red-horned demon laughed. "All the game-pieces have gathered — Jack, the Doctor, your daughter. The board's been set up at the turning point of history. And you — Buffy Summers — will play."

— "Tartarus Gate"

* * *

"It doesn't make sense," the Doctor was saying, as they ran from the Cybermen — and he pondered the latest mystery.

"I know!" Seo agreed. "I mean, why are they wasting time going after us, when there are all these people—" gesturing at the crowds around them "—that they could be converting into Cybermen?! Don't they have any sense of priorities at all?"

The Doctor shot Seo a sideways stare.

"What?" Seo asked.

— "Tartarus Gate"

* * *

"So this time, instead of destroying Gallifrey," the Doctor concluded, "I yanked the planet out of the universe at just the right second, and moved it somewhere else. I didn't know if it had worked. Or if I'd just vaporized the planet completely. But, turns out… it worked!" The Doctor beamed. "I saved Gallifrey! See?"

Seo was silent.

Staring at him, her jaw dropped.

The Doctor's enthusiasm wavered, just a hair. "Impressive? Congratulations? Anything?"

"You're delusional!" Seo cried.

— "Reunion"

* * *

The Doctor took the water. Sipped it. Eyes never leaving the unconscious Seo. "You'd think it would be easier," he remarked, idly, "when it's not really your child. But… it isn't. Not at all."

"Isn't she yours?"

"Some other me," said the Doctor. "Some other Doctor, in some other timeline, living some other life. He's dead, you know. That whole universe is dead."

— "Reunion"

* * *

"The Slayer can't save every single person," Buffy said, in a low voice. "Or that's what everyone always says." Her eyes fixed back on the vortex, before them. "But today's the day… I prove everyone wrong."

— "Reunion"

* * *

**SEASON 4 OF THE CHILD OF BALIME**

**COMING SOON!**

* * *

_One Word_

_Acathla_

_Irkoli_

_Celebrity_

_Perfect World_

_Invasion of Hell, Part I: Genesis_

_Un-Minority Report_

_We Must Survive_

_Invasion of Hell, Part II: Dream Stealers_

_Mirror Vision_

_Invasion of Hell, Part III: The Nightmare_

_Redemption_

_Invasion of Hell, Part IV: The Doorway_

_A Single Act of Kindness_

_Tartarus Gate_

_Reunion_


End file.
